The evolution of dermal shield vascularization in Testudinata and Pseudosuchia: phylogenetic constraints versus ecophysiological adaptations.

ABSTRACT: Studies on living turtles have demonstrated that shells are involved in the resistance to hypoxia during apnea via bone acidosis buffering; a process which is complemented with cutaneous respiration, transpharyngeal and cloacal gas exchanges in the soft-shell turtles. Bone acidosis buffering during apnea has also been identified in crocodylian osteoderms, which are also known to employ heat transfer when basking. Although diverse, many of these functions rely on one common trait: the vascularization of the dermal shield. Here, we test whether the above ecophysiological functions played an adaptive role in the evolutionary transitions between land and aquatic environments in both Pseudosuchia and Testudinata. To do so, we measured the bone porosity as a proxy for vascular density in a set o

SUBMITTER: Clarac F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7017437 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature