[DSRP Evidence](https://dsrpevidence.org/)

# Adaptive zones of feliforms and evolutionary regimes within terrestrial mammalian carnivores

Barrett et al., 2026, Nature Ecology & Evolution — Evolutionary Biology

Patterns: [Distinctions](https://dsrpevidence.org/pattern/distinctions), [Systems](https://dsrpevidence.org/pattern/systems), [Relationships](https://dsrpevidence.org/pattern/relationships)

## In short

Whether tooth shape predicts diet (a relationship) depends on which adaptive-zone category (a distinction) a carnivore lineage occupies, within a broader system of evolutionary regimes structuring the group's diversification.

## What they found (results)

Across a phylogeny of living and extinct feliforms, dental morphology reliably predicts diet only within hypercarnivore lineages under strong selection on tooth shape, while generalist lineages show unpredictable dental evolution relative to diet.

These researchers were not testing DSRP. The finding is theirs; the correspondence to DSRP is drawn by this site.

[Source](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-026-03176-1)