Birds have peramorphic skulls, too: anatomical network analyses reveal oppositional heterochronies in avian skull evolution
- Plateau, Olivia Department of Geosciences, University of Fribourg, Chemin du Musée 6, CH-1700, Fribourg, Switzerland
- Foth, Christian Department of Geosciences, University of Fribourg, Chemin du Musée 6, CH-1700, Fribourg, Switzerland
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01.12.2020
Published in:
- Communications Biology. - 2020, vol. 3, no. 1, p. 195
English
In contrast to the vast majority of reptiles, the skulls of adult crown birds are characterized by a high degree of integration due to bone fusion, e.g., an ontogenetic event generating a net reduction in the number of bones. To understand this process in an evolutionary context, we investigate postnatal ontogenetic changes in the skulls of crown bird and non-avian theropods using anatomical network analysis (AnNA). Due to the greater number of bones and bone contacts, early juvenile crown birds have less integrated skulls, resembling their non-avian theropod ancestors, including Archaeopteryx lithographica and Ichthyornis dispars. Phylogenetic comparisons indicate that skull bone fusion and the resulting modular integration represent a peramorphosis (developmental exaggeration of the ancestral adult trait) that evolved late during avialan evolution, at the origin of crown-birds. Succeeding the general paedomorphic shape trend, the occurrence of an additional peramorphosis reflects the mosaic complexity of the avian skull evolution.
- Faculty
- Faculté des sciences et de médecine
- Department
- Département de Géosciences
- Language
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- English
- Classification
- Biological sciences
- License
- License undefined
- Identifiers
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- RERO DOC 328528
- DOI 10.1038/s42003-020-0914-4
- Persistent URL
- https://folia.unifr.ch/unifr/documents/308687
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