Inner ear sensory system changes as extinct crocodylomorphs transitioned from land to water

Autores
Schwab, Julia A.; Young, Mark T.; Neenan, James M.; Walsh, Stig A.; Witmer, Lawrence M.; Herrera, Laura Yanina; Allain, Ronan; Brochu, Christopher A.; Choiniere, Jonah N.; Clark, James M.; Dollman, Kathleen N.; Etches, Steve; Fritsch, Guido; Gignac, Paul M.; Ruebenstahl, Alexander; Sachs, Sven; Turner, Alan H.; Vignaud, Patrick; Wilberg, Eric W.; Xu, Xing; Zanno, Lindsay E.; Brusatte, Stephen L.
Año de publicación
2020
Idioma
inglés
Tipo de recurso
artículo
Estado
versión publicada
Descripción
Major evolutionary transitions, in which animals develop new body plans and adapt to dramatically new habitats and lifestyles, have punctuated the history of life. The origin of cetaceans from land-living mammals is among the most famous of these events. Much earlier, during the Mesozoic Era, many reptile groups also moved from land to water, but these transitions are more poorly understood. We use computed tomography to study changes in the inner ear vestibular system, involved in sensing balance and equilibrium, as one of these groups, extinct crocodile relatives called thalattosuchians, transitioned from terrestrial ancestors into pelagic (open ocean) swimmers. We find that the morphology of the vestibular system corresponds to habitat, with pelagic thalattosuchians exhibiting a more compact labyrinth with wider semicircular canal diameters and an enlarged vestibule, reminiscent of modified and miniaturized labyrinths of other marine reptiles and cetaceans. Pelagic thalattosuchians with modified inner ears were the culmination of an evolutionary trend with a long semiaquatic phase, and their pelagic vestibular systems appeared after the first changes to the postcranial skeleton that enhanced their ability to swim. This is strikingly different from cetaceans, which miniaturized their labyrinths soon after entering the water, without a prolonged semiaquatic stage. Thus, thalattosuchians and cetaceans became secondarily aquatic in different ways and at different paces, showing that there are different routes for the same type of transition.
Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo
Materia
Ciencias Naturales
Paleontología
Bony labyrinth
Vestibular system
Morphology
Thalattosuchia
CT scanning
Nivel de accesibilidad
acceso abierto
Condiciones de uso
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Repositorio
SEDICI (UNLP)
Institución
Universidad Nacional de La Plata
OAI Identificador
oai:sedici.unlp.edu.ar:10915/124479

id SEDICI_691ba08d39901d61ccd9563c0b01752d
oai_identifier_str oai:sedici.unlp.edu.ar:10915/124479
network_acronym_str SEDICI
repository_id_str 1329
network_name_str SEDICI (UNLP)
spelling Inner ear sensory system changes as extinct crocodylomorphs transitioned from land to waterSchwab, Julia A.Young, Mark T.Neenan, James M.Walsh, Stig A.Witmer, Lawrence M.Herrera, Laura YaninaAllain, RonanBrochu, Christopher A.Choiniere, Jonah N.Clark, James M.Dollman, Kathleen N.Etches, SteveFritsch, GuidoGignac, Paul M.Ruebenstahl, AlexanderSachs, SvenTurner, Alan H.Vignaud, PatrickWilberg, Eric W.Xu, XingZanno, Lindsay E.Brusatte, Stephen L.Ciencias NaturalesPaleontologíaBony labyrinthVestibular systemMorphologyThalattosuchiaCT scanningMajor evolutionary transitions, in which animals develop new body plans and adapt to dramatically new habitats and lifestyles, have punctuated the history of life. The origin of cetaceans from land-living mammals is among the most famous of these events. Much earlier, during the Mesozoic Era, many reptile groups also moved from land to water, but these transitions are more poorly understood. We use computed tomography to study changes in the inner ear vestibular system, involved in sensing balance and equilibrium, as one of these groups, extinct crocodile relatives called thalattosuchians, transitioned from terrestrial ancestors into pelagic (open ocean) swimmers. We find that the morphology of the vestibular system corresponds to habitat, with pelagic thalattosuchians exhibiting a more compact labyrinth with wider semicircular canal diameters and an enlarged vestibule, reminiscent of modified and miniaturized labyrinths of other marine reptiles and cetaceans. Pelagic thalattosuchians with modified inner ears were the culmination of an evolutionary trend with a long semiaquatic phase, and their pelagic vestibular systems appeared after the first changes to the postcranial skeleton that enhanced their ability to swim. This is strikingly different from cetaceans, which miniaturized their labyrinths soon after entering the water, without a prolonged semiaquatic stage. Thus, thalattosuchians and cetaceans became secondarily aquatic in different ways and at different paces, showing that there are different routes for the same type of transition.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo2020-04-20info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionArticulohttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdf10422-10428http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/124479enginfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/issn/1091-6490info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/issn/0027-8424info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pmid/32312812info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1073/pnas.2002146117info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)reponame:SEDICI (UNLP)instname:Universidad Nacional de La Platainstacron:UNLP2025-09-29T11:29:54Zoai:sedici.unlp.edu.ar:10915/124479Institucionalhttp://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/Universidad públicaNo correspondehttp://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/oai/snrdalira@sedici.unlp.edu.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:13292025-09-29 11:29:54.562SEDICI (UNLP) - Universidad Nacional de La Platafalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Inner ear sensory system changes as extinct crocodylomorphs transitioned from land to water
title Inner ear sensory system changes as extinct crocodylomorphs transitioned from land to water
spellingShingle Inner ear sensory system changes as extinct crocodylomorphs transitioned from land to water
Schwab, Julia A.
Ciencias Naturales
Paleontología
Bony labyrinth
Vestibular system
Morphology
Thalattosuchia
CT scanning
title_short Inner ear sensory system changes as extinct crocodylomorphs transitioned from land to water
title_full Inner ear sensory system changes as extinct crocodylomorphs transitioned from land to water
title_fullStr Inner ear sensory system changes as extinct crocodylomorphs transitioned from land to water
title_full_unstemmed Inner ear sensory system changes as extinct crocodylomorphs transitioned from land to water
title_sort Inner ear sensory system changes as extinct crocodylomorphs transitioned from land to water
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Schwab, Julia A.
Young, Mark T.
Neenan, James M.
Walsh, Stig A.
Witmer, Lawrence M.
Herrera, Laura Yanina
Allain, Ronan
Brochu, Christopher A.
Choiniere, Jonah N.
Clark, James M.
Dollman, Kathleen N.
Etches, Steve
Fritsch, Guido
Gignac, Paul M.
Ruebenstahl, Alexander
Sachs, Sven
Turner, Alan H.
Vignaud, Patrick
Wilberg, Eric W.
Xu, Xing
Zanno, Lindsay E.
Brusatte, Stephen L.
author Schwab, Julia A.
author_facet Schwab, Julia A.
Young, Mark T.
Neenan, James M.
Walsh, Stig A.
Witmer, Lawrence M.
Herrera, Laura Yanina
Allain, Ronan
Brochu, Christopher A.
Choiniere, Jonah N.
Clark, James M.
Dollman, Kathleen N.
Etches, Steve
Fritsch, Guido
Gignac, Paul M.
Ruebenstahl, Alexander
Sachs, Sven
Turner, Alan H.
Vignaud, Patrick
Wilberg, Eric W.
Xu, Xing
Zanno, Lindsay E.
Brusatte, Stephen L.
author_role author
author2 Young, Mark T.
Neenan, James M.
Walsh, Stig A.
Witmer, Lawrence M.
Herrera, Laura Yanina
Allain, Ronan
Brochu, Christopher A.
Choiniere, Jonah N.
Clark, James M.
Dollman, Kathleen N.
Etches, Steve
Fritsch, Guido
Gignac, Paul M.
Ruebenstahl, Alexander
Sachs, Sven
Turner, Alan H.
Vignaud, Patrick
Wilberg, Eric W.
Xu, Xing
Zanno, Lindsay E.
Brusatte, Stephen L.
author2_role author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Ciencias Naturales
Paleontología
Bony labyrinth
Vestibular system
Morphology
Thalattosuchia
CT scanning
topic Ciencias Naturales
Paleontología
Bony labyrinth
Vestibular system
Morphology
Thalattosuchia
CT scanning
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv Major evolutionary transitions, in which animals develop new body plans and adapt to dramatically new habitats and lifestyles, have punctuated the history of life. The origin of cetaceans from land-living mammals is among the most famous of these events. Much earlier, during the Mesozoic Era, many reptile groups also moved from land to water, but these transitions are more poorly understood. We use computed tomography to study changes in the inner ear vestibular system, involved in sensing balance and equilibrium, as one of these groups, extinct crocodile relatives called thalattosuchians, transitioned from terrestrial ancestors into pelagic (open ocean) swimmers. We find that the morphology of the vestibular system corresponds to habitat, with pelagic thalattosuchians exhibiting a more compact labyrinth with wider semicircular canal diameters and an enlarged vestibule, reminiscent of modified and miniaturized labyrinths of other marine reptiles and cetaceans. Pelagic thalattosuchians with modified inner ears were the culmination of an evolutionary trend with a long semiaquatic phase, and their pelagic vestibular systems appeared after the first changes to the postcranial skeleton that enhanced their ability to swim. This is strikingly different from cetaceans, which miniaturized their labyrinths soon after entering the water, without a prolonged semiaquatic stage. Thus, thalattosuchians and cetaceans became secondarily aquatic in different ways and at different paces, showing that there are different routes for the same type of transition.
Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo
description Major evolutionary transitions, in which animals develop new body plans and adapt to dramatically new habitats and lifestyles, have punctuated the history of life. The origin of cetaceans from land-living mammals is among the most famous of these events. Much earlier, during the Mesozoic Era, many reptile groups also moved from land to water, but these transitions are more poorly understood. We use computed tomography to study changes in the inner ear vestibular system, involved in sensing balance and equilibrium, as one of these groups, extinct crocodile relatives called thalattosuchians, transitioned from terrestrial ancestors into pelagic (open ocean) swimmers. We find that the morphology of the vestibular system corresponds to habitat, with pelagic thalattosuchians exhibiting a more compact labyrinth with wider semicircular canal diameters and an enlarged vestibule, reminiscent of modified and miniaturized labyrinths of other marine reptiles and cetaceans. Pelagic thalattosuchians with modified inner ears were the culmination of an evolutionary trend with a long semiaquatic phase, and their pelagic vestibular systems appeared after the first changes to the postcranial skeleton that enhanced their ability to swim. This is strikingly different from cetaceans, which miniaturized their labyrinths soon after entering the water, without a prolonged semiaquatic stage. Thus, thalattosuchians and cetaceans became secondarily aquatic in different ways and at different paces, showing that there are different routes for the same type of transition.
publishDate 2020
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2020-04-20
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
Articulo
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
info:ar-repo/semantics/articulo
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/124479
url http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/124479
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/issn/1091-6490
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/issn/0027-8424
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pmid/32312812
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1073/pnas.2002146117
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
10422-10428
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:SEDICI (UNLP)
instname:Universidad Nacional de La Plata
instacron:UNLP
reponame_str SEDICI (UNLP)
collection SEDICI (UNLP)
instname_str Universidad Nacional de La Plata
instacron_str UNLP
institution UNLP
repository.name.fl_str_mv SEDICI (UNLP) - Universidad Nacional de La Plata
repository.mail.fl_str_mv alira@sedici.unlp.edu.ar
_version_ 1844616178458165248
score 13.070432