Repatterning of mammalian backbone regionalization in cetaceans.

ABSTRACT: Cetacean reinvasion of the aquatic realm is an iconic ecological transition that led to drastic modifications of the mammalian body plan, especially in the axial skeleton. Relative to the vertebral column of other mammals that is subdivided into numerous anatomical regions, regional boundaries of the cetacean backbone appear obscured. Whether the traditional mammalian regions are present in cetaceans but hard to detect due to anatomical homogenization or if regions have been entirely repatterned remains unresolved. Here we combine a segmented linear regression approach with spectral clustering to quantitatively investigate the number, position, and homology of vertebral regions across 62 species from all major cetacean clades. We propose the Nested Regions hypothesis under which the cetace

SUBMITTER: Gillet A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11365943 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature