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Egg shape changes at the theropod–bird transition, and a morphometric study of amniote eggs

The eggs of amniotes exhibit a remarkable variety of shapes, from spherical to elongate and from symmetrical to asymmetrical. We examine eggshell geometry in a diverse sample of fossil and living amniotes using geometric morphometrics and linear measurements. Our goal is to quantify patterns of morp...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Deeming, D. Charles, Ruta, Marcello
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Royal Society Publishing 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4448846/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26064565
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.140311
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author Deeming, D. Charles
Ruta, Marcello
author_facet Deeming, D. Charles
Ruta, Marcello
author_sort Deeming, D. Charles
collection PubMed
description The eggs of amniotes exhibit a remarkable variety of shapes, from spherical to elongate and from symmetrical to asymmetrical. We examine eggshell geometry in a diverse sample of fossil and living amniotes using geometric morphometrics and linear measurements. Our goal is to quantify patterns of morphospace occupation and shape variation in the eggs of recent through to Mesozoic birds (neornithe plus non-neornithe avialans), as well as in eggs attributed to non-avialan theropods. In most amniotes, eggs show significant deviation from sphericity, but departure from symmetry around the equatorial axis is mostly confined to theropods and birds. Mesozoic bird eggs differ significantly from extant bird eggs, but extinct Cenozoic bird eggs do not. This suggests that the range of egg shapes in extant birds had already been attained in the Cenozoic. We conclude with a discussion of possible biological factors imparting variation to egg shapes during their formation in the oviduct.
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spelling pubmed-44488462015-06-10 Egg shape changes at the theropod–bird transition, and a morphometric study of amniote eggs Deeming, D. Charles Ruta, Marcello R Soc Open Sci Research Articles The eggs of amniotes exhibit a remarkable variety of shapes, from spherical to elongate and from symmetrical to asymmetrical. We examine eggshell geometry in a diverse sample of fossil and living amniotes using geometric morphometrics and linear measurements. Our goal is to quantify patterns of morphospace occupation and shape variation in the eggs of recent through to Mesozoic birds (neornithe plus non-neornithe avialans), as well as in eggs attributed to non-avialan theropods. In most amniotes, eggs show significant deviation from sphericity, but departure from symmetry around the equatorial axis is mostly confined to theropods and birds. Mesozoic bird eggs differ significantly from extant bird eggs, but extinct Cenozoic bird eggs do not. This suggests that the range of egg shapes in extant birds had already been attained in the Cenozoic. We conclude with a discussion of possible biological factors imparting variation to egg shapes during their formation in the oviduct. The Royal Society Publishing 2014-11-05 /pmc/articles/PMC4448846/ /pubmed/26064565 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.140311 Text en © 2014 The Authors. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Articles
Deeming, D. Charles
Ruta, Marcello
Egg shape changes at the theropod–bird transition, and a morphometric study of amniote eggs
title Egg shape changes at the theropod–bird transition, and a morphometric study of amniote eggs
title_full Egg shape changes at the theropod–bird transition, and a morphometric study of amniote eggs
title_fullStr Egg shape changes at the theropod–bird transition, and a morphometric study of amniote eggs
title_full_unstemmed Egg shape changes at the theropod–bird transition, and a morphometric study of amniote eggs
title_short Egg shape changes at the theropod–bird transition, and a morphometric study of amniote eggs
title_sort egg shape changes at the theropod–bird transition, and a morphometric study of amniote eggs
topic Research Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4448846/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26064565
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.140311
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