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De Mendoza RS, Carril J, Degrange FJ, Demmel Ferreira MM, Nieto MN, Tambussi CP. Redefining the simplicity of the craniomandibular complex of nightjars: The case of Systellura longirostris (Aves: Caprimulgidae) by means of anatomical network analysis. J Morphol 2022; 283:945-955. [PMID: 35621367 DOI: 10.1002/jmor.21482] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2022] [Revised: 04/28/2022] [Accepted: 05/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
To study morphological evolution, it is necessary to combine information from multiple intersecting research fields. Here, we report on the structure of the bony and muscular elements of the craniomandibular complex of birds, highlighting its morphological architecture and complexity (or simplification) in the context of anatomical networks of the Band-winged Nightjar Systellura longirostris (Caprimulgiformes, Caprimulgidae). This species has skull osteology and jaw myology that departs from the general structural plan of the craniomandibular complex of Neornithes and is considered morphologically simple. Our goal is to test if its simplification is also reflected in its anatomical network, particularly in those parameters that measure complexity and to explore if the distribution of the networks in a phylomorphospace is conditioned by their evolutionary history or by convergence. Our results show that S. longirostris clusters with other Strisores and momotids and is segregated from the other bird species analyzed when plotted in the phylomorphospace, as a consequence of convergence in the network parameters. Systellura has a craniomandibular complex consisting of fewer muscles connecting more bones than the model species (e.g., the rock pigeon or the guira cuckoo). In this sense, Systellura is actually more complex regarding the number of integrative bony parts, while its craniomandibular complex is simpler. According to its anatomical network, Systellura also can be interpreted as less complex, particularly compared with other Strisores and taxa that reflect the general structure of the craniomandibular complex in Neornithes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ricardo S De Mendoza
- Laboratorio de Histología y Embriología Descriptiva, Experimental y Comparada (LHYEDEC), Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Julieta Carril
- Laboratorio de Histología y Embriología Descriptiva, Experimental y Comparada (LHYEDEC), Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Federico J Degrange
- Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Tierra (CICTERRA), Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Córdoba, Argentina
| | - María M Demmel Ferreira
- Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Tierra (CICTERRA), Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Córdoba, Argentina
| | - Mauro N Nieto
- Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Tierra (CICTERRA), Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Córdoba, Argentina
| | - Claudia P Tambussi
- Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Tierra (CICTERRA), Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Córdoba, Argentina
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Deeming DC, Harrison SL, Sutton GP. Inter‐relationships among body mass, jaw musculature and bite force in birds. J Zool (1987) 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/jzo.12966] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- D. C. Deeming
- School of Life Sciences University of Lincoln Joseph Banks Laboratories Lincoln LN6 7DL UK
| | - S. L. Harrison
- School of Life Sciences University of Lincoln Joseph Banks Laboratories Lincoln LN6 7DL UK
| | - G. P. Sutton
- School of Life Sciences University of Lincoln Joseph Banks Laboratories Lincoln LN6 7DL UK
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Skull morphology of four Antarctic fulmarine petrels (Aves: Procellariiformes): insights into their feeding biology. Polar Biol 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s00300-021-02983-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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Gómez RO, Lois-Milevicich J. Why the long beak? Phylogeny, convergence, feeding ecology, and evolutionary allometry shaped the skull of the Giant Cowbird Molothrus oryzivorus (Icteridae). J Morphol 2021; 282:1587-1603. [PMID: 34369611 DOI: 10.1002/jmor.21408] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2021] [Revised: 08/04/2021] [Accepted: 08/05/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Cowbirds are a successful group of obligate brood parasites in the Neotropical passerine family Icteridae that offer an interesting model to explore the factors behind the evolution of the bird craniomandibular complex. The Giant Cowbird, Molothrus oryzivorus, stands out from its congeners, among other features, in diet (feeds mostly on fruit, nectar, and arthropods, instead on seeds), its larger body size, and longer, more robust beak with a much broader bony casque than in other cowbirds. In turn, Giant Cowbirds show a remarkable resemblance in these features to the distantly related caciques and oropendolas (some are its breeding hosts). However, the causes behind the latter resemblance and the distinctiveness among cowbirds have not yet been elucidated. We aim to explore the factors involved in the diverging morphology of the Giant Cowbird from its congeners and the convergence with caciques and oropendolas, surveying their skull and lower jaw under an explicit evolutionary framework. Using geometric morphometrics and comparative methods, we assessed the signal of phylogeny, convergence, feeding ecology, and size in skull shape. Our results indicated that evolution of the craniomandibular complex of icterids in general, and of the beak morphology in the Giant Cowbird in particular, are shaped by multiple factors, with phylogeny being largely overridden by changes in size (evolutionary allometry), primarily, and feeding ecology, secondarily. However, the evolution of a broad bony casque in the Giant Cowbird, otherwise a hallmark of caciques and oropendolas, does not appear to have primarily been ruled by evolutionary allometry. Instead, taking into account the unique extreme convergence between Giant Cowbirds and some of its caciques hosts, it might be consequence of selective regimes associated with parasite-host interactions acting on top of other evolutionary processes. This suggests chick mimicry as a reasonable explanation for this peculiar morphology that would require further investigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Raúl O Gómez
- CONICET-Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Pabellón II Ciudad Universitaria, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Jimena Lois-Milevicich
- Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución and Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución (IEGEBA-CONICET), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Pabellón II Ciudad Universitaria, Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Navalón G, Nebreda SM, Bright JA, Fabbri M, Benson RBJ, Bhullar BA, Marugán-Lobón J, Rayfield EJ. Craniofacial development illuminates the evolution of nightbirds (Strisores). Proc Biol Sci 2021; 288:20210181. [PMID: 33849313 PMCID: PMC8059503 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.0181] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Evolutionary variation in ontogeny played a central role in the origin of the avian skull. However, its influence in subsequent bird evolution is largely unexplored. We assess the links between ontogenetic and evolutionary variation of skull morphology in Strisores (nightbirds). Nightbirds span an exceptional range of ecologies, sizes, life-history traits and craniofacial morphologies constituting an ideal test for evo-devo hypotheses of avian craniofacial evolution. These morphologies include superficially ‘juvenile-like’ broad, flat skulls with short rostra and large orbits in swifts, nightjars and allied lineages, and the elongate, narrow rostra and globular skulls of hummingbirds. Here, we show that nightbird skulls undergo large ontogenetic shape changes that differ strongly from widespread avian patterns. While the superficially juvenile-like skull morphology of many adult nightbirds results from convergent evolution, rather than paedomorphosis, the divergent cranial morphology of hummingbirds originates from an evolutionary reversal to a more typical avian ontogenetic trajectory combined with accelerated ontogenetic shape change. Our findings underscore the evolutionary lability of cranial growth and development in birds, and the underappreciated role of this aspect of phenotypic variability in the macroevolutionary diversification of the amniote skull.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guillermo Navalón
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.,Unidad de Paleontología, Departamento de Biología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.,School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Life Sciences Building, Bristol, UK
| | - Sergio M Nebreda
- Unidad de Paleontología, Departamento de Biología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Jen A Bright
- Department of Biological and Marine Sciences, University of Hull, Hull, UK
| | - Matteo Fabbri
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
| | | | - Bhart-Anjan Bhullar
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
| | - Jesús Marugán-Lobón
- Unidad de Paleontología, Departamento de Biología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.,Dinosaur Institute, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Emily J Rayfield
- School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Life Sciences Building, Bristol, UK
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Salazar J, Severin D, Vega-Zuniga T, Fernández-Aburto P, Deichler A, Sallaberry A. M, Mpodozis J. Anatomical Specializations Related to Foraging in the Visual System of a Nocturnal Insectivorous Bird, the Band-Winged Nightjar (Aves: Caprimulgiformes). BRAIN, BEHAVIOR AND EVOLUTION 2019; 94:27-36. [DOI: 10.1159/000504162] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2019] [Accepted: 10/15/2019] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Nocturnal animals that rely on their visual system for foraging, mating, and navigation usually exhibit specific traits associated with living in scotopic conditions. Most nocturnal birds have several visual specializations, such as enlarged eyes and an increased orbital convergence. However, the actual role of binocular vision in nocturnal foraging is still debated. Nightjars (Aves: Caprimulgidae) are predators that actively pursue and capture flying insects in crepuscular and nocturnal environments, mainly using a conspicuous “sit-and-wait” tactic on which pursuit begins with an insect flying over the bird that sits on the ground. In this study, we describe the visual system of the band-winged nightjar (Systellura longirostris), with emphasis on anatomical features previously described as relevant for nocturnal birds. Orbit convergence, determined by 3D scanning of the skull, was 73.28°. The visual field, determined by ophthalmoscopic reflex, exhibits an area of maximum binocular overlap of 42°, and it is dorsally oriented. The eyes showed a nocturnal-like normalized corneal aperture/axial length index. Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) were relatively scant, and distributed in an unusual oblique-band pattern, with higher concentrations in the ventrotemporal quadrant. Together, these results indicate that the band-winged nightjar exhibits a retinal specialization associated with the binocular area of their dorsal visual field, a relevant area for pursuit triggering and prey attacks. The RGC distribution observed is unusual among birds, but similar to that of some visually dependent insectivorous bats, suggesting that those features might be convergent in relation to feeding strategies.
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