Phenotypic integration of the cervical vertebrae in the Hominoidea (Primates)

Villamil, Catalina I.

doi:10.1111/evo.13433

Cited by 37 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 123 publications

(332 reference statements)

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“…2), and considering that species represent feeding ecologies, we can deduce that the modular structure of the neck is not mainly linked to feeding ecology. Similar observations have been made in mammals, in which the patterns of modularity in the neck are highly conserved regardless of the species ecology (Arnold et al 2016(Arnold et al , 2017Villamil 2018), in contrast to those observed in the rest of the column (Jones et al 2018(Jones et al , 2019. To further extend these conclusions, they can be discussed in light of those reported for Felidae by Randau et al (2017), who concluded that "ecological factors influence the shape of the vertebral column heterogeneously and that distinct vertebral sections may be under different selection pressures".…”

Section: Modules (Ie Subsets Of Cvs)supporting

confidence: 64%

Modularity of the Neck in Birds (Aves)

et al. 2020

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The neck connects the head and the trunk and is the key structure allowing all movements of the head. The neck morphology of birds is the most variable among living tetrapods, including significant differences in the number and shape of the cervical vertebrae. Despite these differences, according to the literature, three morphofunctional regions (i.e., modules) have been identified along the neck. However, this regionalization has not been quantitatively tested through a geometric morphomet-ric approach applied to the cervical vertebrae. Based on the examination of 187 cervical vertebrae belonging to 16 species with various ecologies, we revealed a common modular structure of the neck using 3D surface geometric morphometrics. We adopted an approach without a priori clustering to identify modules along the neck. The phylogenetic influence on each module was tested. Then, each module was digitally reconstructed as a 3D vertebral model, and postural characteristics were studied. We characterized 9 modules: 7 are transpecific, being shared by at least 2 and up to 15 species. Two modules are specific to species with particularly long necks. The modularity pattern appears to be tightly linked to morphofunctional aspects and partially to phylogeny. In contrast, feeding ecology seems to be more closely related to the chaining of modules (the neck) than to the modules themselves. A study of postural properties revealed that each modular unit exhibits a characteristic curvature. Overall, the modular structure of the neck corresponds to the three traditional functional regions. However, the results also revealed unexpected pattern complexity, including subdivisions within these regions. The study of the patterns of modularity is therefore a relevant approach for challenging the three-functional-region hypothesis and allowed us to identify the structure of the diversity of the necks of birds.

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Section: Modules (Ie Subsets Of Cvs)supporting

confidence: 64%

Modularity of the Neck in Birds (Aves)

et al. 2020

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“…Murine vertebral outlines after Johnson and O'Higgins (1996) morphological modules of the neck. There are distinct shape changes between C2 and C3 as well as C5 and C6 (Johnson et al 1999;Buchholtz et al 2012;Arnold et al 2016;Böhmer 2017;Randau and Goswami 2017;Villamil 2018). C1 and C2 (atlas and axis), but also C6 and C7, each have unique morphologies, whereas C3 to C5 are more uniform.…”

Section: The Morphological Perspective: Bone Shape and Muscle Topologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of the Mammalian Neck from Developmental, Morpho-Functional, and Paleontological Perspectives

Arnold

2020

J Mammal Evol

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The mammalian neck adopts a variety of postures during daily life and generates numerous head trajectories. Despite its functional diversity, the neck is constrained to seven cervical vertebrae in (almost) all mammals. Given this low number, an unexpectedly high degree of modularity of the mammalian neck has more recently been uncovered. This work aims to review neck modularity in mammals from a developmental, morpho-functional, and paleontological perspective and how high functional diversity evolved in the mammalian neck after the occurrence of meristic limitations. The fixed number of cervical vertebrae and the developmental modularity of the mammalian neck are closely linked to anterior Hox genes expression and strong developmental integration between the neck and other body regions. In addition, basic neck biomechanics promote morpho-functional modularity due to preferred motion axes in the cranio-cervical and cervico-thoracic junction. These developmental and biomechanical determinants result in the characteristic and highly conserved shape variation among the vertebrae that delimits morphological modules. The step-wise acquisition of these unique cervical traits can be traced in the fossil record. The increasing functional specialization of neck modules, however, did not evolve all at once but started much earlier in the upper than in the lower neck. Overall, the strongly conserved modularity in the mammalian neck represents an evolutionary trade-off between the meristic constraints and functional diversity. Although a morpho-functional partition of the neck is common among amniotes, the degree of modularity and the way neck disparity is realized is unique in mammals.

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“…Vertebral anatomy and its relationship to basicranial anatomy and posture in primates is the subject of some research (e.g. Russo & Kirk, ; Nalley & Grider‐Potter, ; Villamil, ), but our results demonstrate that its effect on cranial vault anatomy via the link with the nuchal musculature should be assessed as well.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Allometry and advancing age significantly structure craniofacial variation in adult female baboons

Joganic

Heuzé

2019

Journal of Anatomy

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Primate craniofacial growth is traditionally assumed to cease upon maturation or at least be negligible, whereas bony remodeling is typically associated with advanced adult age and, in particular, tooth loss. Therefore, size and shape of the craniofacial skeleton of young and middle‐aged adults should be stable. However, research on both modern and historic human samples suggests that portions of the CFS exhibit age‐related changes in mature individuals, both related to and independent of tooth loss. These results demonstrate that the age‐category ‘adult’ is heterogeneous, containing individuals demonstrating post‐maturational age‐related variation, but the topic remains understudied outside of humans and in the cranial vault and base. Our research quantifies variation in a sample of captive adult female baboons (n = 97) in an effort to understand how advancing age alters the mature CFS. Craniometric landmarks and sliding semilandmarks were collected from computed tomography (CT) scans of adult baboons aged 7–32 years old. To determine whether craniofacial morphology is sensitive to aging mechanisms and whether any such effects are differentially distributed throughout the cranium, geometric morphometric techniques were employed to compare the shapes of various cranial regions among individuals of increasing age. Unexpectedly, the biggest form differences were observed between young and middle‐aged adults, rather than between adults with full dentitions and those with some degree of tooth loss. Shape variation was greatest in masticatory and nuchal musculature attachment areas. Our results indicate that the craniofacial skeleton changes form during adulthood in baboons, raising interesting questions about the molecular and biological mechanisms governing these changes.

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Phenotypic integration of the cervical vertebrae in the Hominoidea (Primates)

Cited by 37 publications

References 123 publications

Modularity of the Neck in Birds (Aves)

Modularity of the Neck in Birds (Aves)

Evolution of the Mammalian Neck from Developmental, Morpho-Functional, and Paleontological Perspectives

Allometry and advancing age significantly structure craniofacial variation in adult female baboons

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