Ecomorphological correlates of inner ear shape in Australian limb-reduced skinks (Scincidae: Sphenomorphini)
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Ecomorphological correlates of inner ear shape in Australian limb-reduced skinks (Scincidae: Sphenomorphini). / Camaiti, Marco; Wiles, James; Aguilar, Rocio; Hutchinson, Mark N; Hipsley, Christy A; Chapple, David G; Evans, Alistair R.
In: Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, Vol. 199, No. 4, 2023, p. 994-1012.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Ecomorphological correlates of inner ear shape in Australian limb-reduced skinks (Scincidae: Sphenomorphini)
AU - Camaiti, Marco
AU - Wiles, James
AU - Aguilar, Rocio
AU - Hutchinson, Mark N
AU - Hipsley, Christy A
AU - Chapple, David G
AU - Evans, Alistair R
N1 - Funding Information: We wish to thank Dr Jay Black for the technical expertise for acquiring our scans, and the reviewers for kindly reviewing our manuscript. This project was supported by the Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment (Equity Trustees Charitable Foundation and the Ecological Society of Australia; to M.C.), the Monash-Museums Victoria Robert Blackwood scholarship (to M.C.), an Australian Research Council Linkage Project grant (LP170100012; to D.G.C., A.R.E., and M.N.H.), an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship grant (FT200100108; to D.G.C.), and a Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA: DE180100629, to C.A.H.). The authors declare no conflict of interest. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Linnean Society of London.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - The inner ear labyrinth is an organ able to perceive balance and spatial orientation, but the drivers of its morphological variation across and within vertebrate lineages are unclear. We assess two competing hypotheses whether this organ, and specifically the semicircular canals, modifies its shape as a functional adaptation to ecology and locomotion, or according to the constraints of skull morphology. We test these using 52 species of Australian sphenomorphines, a group of scincid lizards that evolved changes in body shape and locomotory adaptations to fossoriality multiple times independently, by reducing their limbs. We find a correlation between semicircular canal shape and degree of limb reduction in these lizards, supporting a functional hypothesis. The interaction between body shape and substrate ecology is also a significant predictor. The wider and more eccentric semicircular canals of limb-reduced skinks indicate higher balance sensitivity and manoeuvrability compared with fully limbed skinks, probably as an adaptation to navigating cluttered environments. Conversely, our results show only a minimal influence of skull constraints on semicircular canal shape, having instead significant effects on size. This supports the hypothesis that in these skinks inner ear shape evolution is driven by specific locomotory strategies more than it is constrained by cranial anatomy.
AB - The inner ear labyrinth is an organ able to perceive balance and spatial orientation, but the drivers of its morphological variation across and within vertebrate lineages are unclear. We assess two competing hypotheses whether this organ, and specifically the semicircular canals, modifies its shape as a functional adaptation to ecology and locomotion, or according to the constraints of skull morphology. We test these using 52 species of Australian sphenomorphines, a group of scincid lizards that evolved changes in body shape and locomotory adaptations to fossoriality multiple times independently, by reducing their limbs. We find a correlation between semicircular canal shape and degree of limb reduction in these lizards, supporting a functional hypothesis. The interaction between body shape and substrate ecology is also a significant predictor. The wider and more eccentric semicircular canals of limb-reduced skinks indicate higher balance sensitivity and manoeuvrability compared with fully limbed skinks, probably as an adaptation to navigating cluttered environments. Conversely, our results show only a minimal influence of skull constraints on semicircular canal shape, having instead significant effects on size. This supports the hypothesis that in these skinks inner ear shape evolution is driven by specific locomotory strategies more than it is constrained by cranial anatomy.
KW - bony labyrinth
KW - ecomorphologylimb reduction
KW - inner ear
KW - skinks
U2 - 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad074
DO - 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad074
M3 - Journal article
VL - 199
SP - 994
EP - 1012
JO - Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society
JF - Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society
SN - 0024-4082
IS - 4
ER -
ID: 362899099