Comparative Serology of Carnivores

One order of mammals in which there still remains a number of problems in relationships even after extensive morphological and paleontological studies is the Carnivora. The relationships of the higher categories within this order have not been adequately resolved. Comparative biochemical studies of proteins, using serological techniques, provide a means of zoological classification which supplements morphological studies. Nuttall (1904) was the first to use the precipitin serological reaction extensively to study mammalian relationships. Even though his tests were unsatisfactory in some respects, he was able to conclude that the amount and rate of serological reaction offer an index of the degree of blood relationship. The application of quantitative comparative serology in mammalian systematics has been well established by Boyden (1926), (1942). The precipitin test has been applied to studies of relationship among the Bovidae and Cervidae (Wolfe, 1939; Baier and Wolfe, 1942), among the Rodentia (Levine and Moody, 1939), among the Lagomorpha (Moody, et al., 1949), between the Cetacea and other orders of mammals (Boyden and Gemeroy, 1950), and within the Order Marsupialia (Wemyss, 1953).