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Early amphibians evolved distinct vertebrae for habitat invasions
- Source :
- PLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 6, p e0251983 (2021), PLoS ONE
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2021.
-
Abstract
- Living tetrapods owe their existence to a critical moment 360–340 million years ago when their ancestors walked on land. Vertebrae are central to locomotion, yet systematic testing of correlations between vertebral form and terrestriality and subsequent reinvasions of aquatic habitats is lacking, obscuring our understanding of movement capabilities in early tetrapods. Here, we quantified vertebral shape across a diverse group of Paleozoic amphibians (Temnospondyli) encompassing different habitats and nearly the full range of early tetrapod vertebral shapes. We demonstrate that temnospondyls were likely ancestrally terrestrial and had several early reinvasions of aquatic habitats. We find a greater diversity in temnospondyl vertebrae than previously known. We also overturn long-held hypotheses centered on weight-bearing, showing that neural arch features, including muscle attachment, were plastic across the water-land divide and do not provide a clear signal of habitat preferences. In contrast, intercentra traits were critical, with temnospondyls repeatedly converging on distinct forms in terrestrial and aquatic taxa, with little overlap between. Through our geometric morphometric study, we have been able to document associations between vertebral shape and environmental preferences in Paleozoic tetrapods and to reveal morphological constraints imposed by vertebrae to locomotion, independent of ancestry.
- Subjects :
- Vertebrae
Physiology
Range (biology)
Skeletal Joints
Medicine and Health Sciences
Tetrapod (structure)
Musculoskeletal System
Data Management
Multidisciplinary
Eukaryota
Paleogenetics
Prehistoric Animals
Phylogenetic Analysis
Biodiversity
Biological Evolution
Phylogenetics
Habitat
Medicine
Anatomy
Locomotion
Research Article
Computer and Information Sciences
Science
Vertebrate Paleontology
Biology
Amphibians
Temnospondyli
Muscle attachment
Animals
Evolutionary Systematics
Paleozoology
Skeleton
Ecosystem
Taxonomy
Evolutionary Biology
Biological Locomotion
Organisms
Biology and Life Sciences
Paleontology
biology.organism_classification
Spine
Spine (zoology)
Taxon
Evolutionary biology
Earth Sciences
Paleobiology
Zoology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 19326203
- Volume :
- 16
- Issue :
- 6
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- PLoS ONE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....87bb4849d96577596da07773fa205c30