Distinct neural and neuromuscular strategies underlie independent evolution of simplified advertisement calls.

ABSTRACT: Independent or convergent evolution can underlie phenotypic similarity of derived behavioural characters. Determining the underlying neural and neuromuscular mechanisms sheds light on how these characters arose. One example of evolutionarily derived characters is a temporally simple advertisement call of male African clawed frogs (Xenopus) that arose at least twice independently from a more complex ancestral pattern. How did simplification occur in the vocal circuit? To distinguish shared from divergent mechanisms, we examined activity from the calling brain and vocal organ (larynx) in two species that independently evolved simplified calls. We find that each species uses distinct neural and neuromuscular strategies to produce the simplified calls. Isolated Xenopus borealis brains produce

SUBMITTER: Leininger EC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3574364 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature