Fingers zipped up or baby mittens? Two main tetrapod strategies to return to the sea
| Autor: | Marta S. Fernández, Lisandro Campos, Lucia Alzugaray, Mónica Romina Buono, Florencia Paolucci, Yanina Herrera, Evangelos Vlachos, Juliana Sterli |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
Marine turtles Anatomical structures Biology 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences Paleontología Ciencias de la Tierra y relacionadas con el Medio Ambiente purl.org/becyt/ford/1 [https] 03 medical and health sciences purl.org/becyt/ford/1.5 [https] Limb-to-fin transitions Marine reptiles Tetrapod (structure) medicine Animals 030304 developmental biology 0303 health sciences Marine crocodiles Fossils Palaeontology Fishes Reptiles Extremities Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous) Biological Evolution Skull medicine.anatomical_structure Evolutionary biology Homogeneous Marine mammals Vertebrates General Agricultural and Biological Sciences Anatomical networks CIENCIAS NATURALES Y EXACTAS |
| Zdroj: | Biol Lett SEDICI (UNLP) Universidad Nacional de La Plata instacron:UNLP CONICET Digital (CONICET) Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas instacron:CONICET |
| Popis: | The application of network methodology in anatomical structures offers new insights on the connectivity pattern of skull bones, skeletal elements and their muscles. Anatomical networks helped to improve our understanding of the water-to-land transition and how the pectoral fins were transformed into limbs via their modular disintegration. Here, we apply the same methodology to tetrapods secondarily adapted to the marine environment. We find that these animals achieved their return to the sea with four types of morphological changes, which can be grouped into two different main strategies. In all marine mammals and the majority of the reptiles, the fin is formed by the persistence of superficial and interdigital connective tissues, like a 'baby mitten', whereas the underlying connectivity pattern of the bones does not influence the formation of the forefin. On the contrary, ichthyosaurs 'zipped up' their fingers and transformed their digits into carpal-like elements, forming a homogeneous and better-integrated forefin. These strategies led these vertebrates into three different macroevolutionary paths exploring the possible spectrum of morphological adaptations. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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