Vergleichend quantitative Untersuchungen an Organen von Caviomorpha

Comparative quantitative investigations of organs of Caviomorpha . The weights of the organs: heart, liver, lung, spleen, kidneys and stomach-intestines were measured in nine species of caviomorph rodents. The sizes of these organs were compared using allometry formulae calculated for each organ from the Caviomorpha to the allometric lines of mammals (mouse-to-elephant line). The slopes of the two sets were nearly equal, except for the lung/body slope. In organ sizes, independently from body size, most of the caviomorph species were found to be outlying with respect to the reference Mammalia. Thus, compared to the general mammalian-line the organ sizes of the caviomorph vary between an increase of 47% in the kidneys of Microcavia australis and a decrease of 68% in the spleen weight of Lagostomus maximus . It is argued that these differences in size suggest a strong correlation to the functional importance of the organs, and that the large range of variation in organ size is regarded as a process of functional adaptation to different life styles within caviomorph rodents.