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Meiri S. Endothermy, offspring size and evolution of parental provisioning in vertebrates. Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2019. [DOI: 10.1093/biolinnean/blz138] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Mammals and birds provide food for their young after birth, but such provisioning is almost absent in other vertebrates. A recent theory suggested that, in addition to thermoregulation, the large discrepancy in size between adult and young ectothermic vertebrates precludes them from providing for their young, whereas the relatively large offspring of endotherms are easier to provision. I show here that reptile neonates and hatchlings are as large as those of mammals and birds. Differences in size between adults and young thus cannot explain the lack of parental provisioning in reptiles. I suggest that the large size at birth is the ancestral condition in amniotes as a whole and that provisioning has thus evolved after endothermy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shai Meiri
- School of Zoology, The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
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