The skull roof tracks the brain during the evolution and development of reptiles including birds
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Major transformations in brain size and proportions, such as the enlargement of the brain during the evolution of birds, are accompanied by profound modifications to the skull roof. However, the hypothesis of concerted evolution of shape between brain and skull roof over major phylogenetic transitions, and in particular of an ontogenetic relationship between specific regions of the brain and the skull roof, has never been formally tested. We performed 3D morphometric analyses to examine the deep history of brain and skull-roof morphology in Reptilia, focusing on changes during the well-documented transition from early reptiles through archosauromorphs, including nonavian dinosaurs, to birds. Non-avialan taxa cluster tightly together in morphospace, whereas Archaeopteryx and crown birds occupy a separate region. There is a one-to-one correspondence between the forebrain and frontal bone and the midbrain and parietal bone. Furthermore, the position of the forebrain–midbrain boundary correlates significantly with the position of the frontoparietal suture across the phylogenetic breadth of Reptilia and during the ontogeny of individual taxa. Conservation of position and identity in the skull roof is apparent, and there is no support for previous hypotheses that the avian parietal is a transformed postparietal. The correlation and apparent developmental link between regions of the brain and bony skull elements are likely to be ancestral to Tetrapoda and may be fundamental to all of Osteichthyes, coeval with the origin of the dermatocranium.
Date Issued
2017-10-01
Date Acceptance
2017-07-24
Citation
Nature Ecology and Evolution, 2017, 1 (10), pp.1543-1550
ISSN
2397-334X
Publisher
Nature Research
Start Page
1543
End Page
1550
Journal / Book Title
Nature Ecology and Evolution
Volume
1
Issue
10
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000417192000023&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Ecology
Evolutionary Biology
Environmental Sciences & Ecology
CRANIAL NEURAL CREST
R PACKAGE
PHYLOGENETIC SIGNAL
MAJOR TRANSITIONS
SHAPE DATA
INTEGRATION
ORIGINS
MORPHOGENESIS
MORPHOMETRICS
VERTEBRATES
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2017-09-11