Bone histology, phylogeny, and palaeognathous birds (Aves: Palaeognathae)

Abstract

The presence of a phylogenetic signal in the variation of osteohistological features has been recently debated in the literature. Previous studies have found a significant signal for some features, but these results were obtained on a small amount of characters and a reduced sample. Here we perform a comprehensive study in which we quantify the phylogenetic signal on 62 osteohistological features in an exhaustive sample of palaeognathous birds. We used four different estimators to measure phylogenetic signal – Pagel's λ, Abouheif's Cmean, Blomberg's K, and Diniz‐Filho's phylogenetic eigenvector regressions PVR – and four topologies taken from the literature. Bone size and bone vascular density exhibit a strong phylogenetic signal, whereas all but four of the remaining features measured at the histological level – cellular size in caudal and medial transects of femora, and proportion of oblique vascular canals in rostral and caudal transects of tibiotarsi – exhibit a weaker signal. We also found that the impact of the topologies used in the analyses is very low compared with that of sample size. We conclude that the analysis of a comprehensive sample is crucial to obtain reliable quantifications of the phylogenetic signal. © 2014 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2014, 112, 688–700.

Geometric and metabolic constraints on bone vascular supply in diapsids

“…Only adult animals were used, and all sections were made in a transverse plane located at mid-diaphysis to work in a strict frame of homology (Legendre et al, 2014). The thin sections belong to pre-existing collections at the Pierre & Marie Curie University, Paris (sample of birds) and the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle of Paris (sample of lepidosaurs).…”

Preliminary assessment of bone histology in the extinct elephant bird Aepyornis (Aves, Palaeognathae) from Madagascar

“…Nevertheless, this group has been recently used as a test case to check the possible phylogenetic relevance of a new set of phenotypic characters available in both extant and extinct taxa, namely histological characteristics of the skeleton (Legendre et al, 2014). Indeed, a current discussion is whether bone histology carries a 'phylogenetic signal', i.e.…”

“…A recent comparative study on ratites using up-to-date statistical assessments has detected a significant phylogenetic signal in their bone histology (Legendre et al, 2014). This study included most available extant and extinct ratite taxa.…”

“…Among these are sections from the famous subfossil 'elephant bird' Aepyornis from Madagascar. The purpose of the present study is to provide a preliminary qualitative description of Aepyornis bone histology, as a complement to the quantitative data computed in Legendre et al (2014).…”

Advances in vertebrate palaeohistology: recent progress, discoveries, and new approaches

“…Vascular and cellular patterns do not correlate with climate or life history but, instead, with body mass, and some histological features display a significant phylogenetic signal. Legendre et al (2014) test the presence of a phylogenetic signal in the variation of histological features in palaeognathous birds. Through the use of four different estimators to measure phylogenetic signals (Pagel's λ, Abouheif's C mean, Blomberg's K, and Diniz-Filho's phylogenetic eigenvector regression), they detect that most features measured at the microanatomical level exhibit a strong phylogenetic signal, whereas this signal is weaker in most of those measured at the histological level.…”