Dudgeon TW, Livius MCH, Alfonso N, Tessier S, Mallon JC. A new model of forelimb ecomorphology for predicting the ancient habitats of fossil turtles.
Ecol Evol 2021;
11:17071-17079. [PMID:
34938493 PMCID:
PMC8668755 DOI:
10.1002/ece3.8345]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2021] [Revised: 10/20/2021] [Accepted: 10/28/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Various morphological proxies have been used to infer habitat preferences among fossil turtles and their early ancestors, but most are tightly linked to phylogeny, thereby minimizing their predictive power. One particularly widely used model incorporates linear measurements of the forelimb (humerus + ulna + manus), but in addition to the issue of phylogenetic correlation, it does not estimate the likelihood of habitat assignment. Here, we introduce a new model that uses intramanual measurements (digit III metacarpal + non-ungual phalanges + ungual) to statistically estimate habitat likelihood and that has greater predictive strength than prior estimators. Application of the model supports the hypothesis that stem-turtles were primarily terrestrial in nature and recovers the nanhsiungchelyid Basilemys (a fossil crown-group turtle) as having lived primarily on land, despite some prior claims to the contrary.
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