Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/2440/122853
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Type: Journal article
Title: The morphological diversity of the quadrate bone in squamate reptiles as revealed by high-resolution computed tomography and geometric morphometrics
Author: Palci, A.
Caldwell, M.W.
Hutchinson, M.N.
Konishi, T.
Lee, M.S.Y.
Citation: Journal of Anatomy, 2019; 236(2):210-227
Publisher: Wiley
Issue Date: 2019
ISSN: 0021-8782
1469-7580
Statement of
Responsibility: 
Alessandro Palci, Michael W. Caldwell, Mark N. Hutchinson, Takuya Konishi Michael S. Y. Lee
Abstract: We examined the morphological diversity of the quadrate bone in squamate reptiles (i.e. lizards, snakes, amphisbaenians). The quadrate is the principal splanchnocranial element involved in suspending the lower jaw from the skull, and its shape is of particular interest because it is potentially affected by several factors, such as phylogenetic history, allometry, ecology, skull kinesis and hearing capabilities (e.g. presence or absence of a tympanic ear). Due to its complexity, the quadrate bone is also considered one of the most diagnostic elements in fragmentary fossil taxa. We describe quadrates from 38 species spread across all major squamate clades, using qualitative and quantitative (e.g. geometric morphometrics) methods. We test for possible correlations between shape variation and factors such as phylogeny, size, ecology and presence/absence of a tympanum. Our results show that the shape of the quadrate is highly evolutionarily plastic, with very little of the diversity explained by phylogenetic history. Size variation (allometric scaling) is similarly unable to explain much shape diversity in the squamate quadrate. Ecology (terrestrial/fossorial/aquatic) and presence of a tympanic ear are more significant, but together explain only about 20% of the diversity observed. Other unexplored and more analytically complex factors, such as skull biomechanics, likely play additional major roles in shaping the quadrates of lizards and snakes.
Keywords: disparity
ecology
lizards
morphology
quadrate
snakes
Rights: © 2019 Anatomical Society.
DOI: 10.1111/joa.13102
Grant ID: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP160103005
Published version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/joa.13102
Appears in Collections:Aurora harvest 8
Environment Institute publications

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