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
- Institución
- Universidad Nacional de La Plata
- OAI Identificador
- oai:sedici.unlp.edu.ar:10915/124479
Ver los metadatos del registro completo
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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) |
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application/pdf 10422-10428 |
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SEDICI (UNLP) - Universidad Nacional de La Plata |
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