Semicircular canal shape diversity among modern lepidosaurs: life habit, size, allometry.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The shape of the semicircular canals of the inner ear of living squamate reptiles has been used to infer phylogenetic relationships, body size, and life habits. Often these inferences are made without controlling for the effects of the other ones. Here we examine the semicircular canals of 94 species of extant limbed lepidosaurs using three-dimensional landmark-based geometric morphometrics, and analyze them in phylogenetic context to evaluate the relative contributions of life habit, size, and phylogeny on canal shape.

Results

Life habit is not a strong predictor of semicircular canal shape across this broad sample. Instead, phylogeny plays a major role in predicting shape, with strong phylogenetic signal in shape as well as size. Allometry has a limited role in

SUBMITTER: Latimer AE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10091843 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature