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Palaeoecological inferences for the fossil Australian snakes Yurlunggur and Wonambi (Serpentes, Madtsoiidae)

Madtsoiids are among the most basal snakes, with a fossil record dating back to the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian). Most representatives went extinct by the end of the Eocene, but some survived in Australia until the Late Cenozoic. Yurlunggur and Wonambi are two of these late forms, and also the best...

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Autores principales: Palci, Alessandro, Hutchinson, Mark N., Caldwell, Michael W., Scanlon, John D., Lee, Michael S. Y.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Royal Society Publishing 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5882723/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29657799
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.172012
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author Palci, Alessandro
Hutchinson, Mark N.
Caldwell, Michael W.
Scanlon, John D.
Lee, Michael S. Y.
author_facet Palci, Alessandro
Hutchinson, Mark N.
Caldwell, Michael W.
Scanlon, John D.
Lee, Michael S. Y.
author_sort Palci, Alessandro
collection PubMed
description Madtsoiids are among the most basal snakes, with a fossil record dating back to the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian). Most representatives went extinct by the end of the Eocene, but some survived in Australia until the Late Cenozoic. Yurlunggur and Wonambi are two of these late forms, and also the best-known madtsoiids to date. A better understanding of the anatomy and palaeoecology of these taxa may shed light on the evolution and extinction of this poorly known group of snakes and on early snake evolution in general. A digital endocast of the inner ear of Yurlunggur was compared to those of 81 species of snakes and lizards with known ecological preferences using three-dimensional geometric morphometrics. The inner ear of Yurlunggur most closely resembles both that of certain semiaquatic snakes and that of some semifossorial snakes. Other cranial and postcranial features of this snake support the semifossorial interpretation. While the digital endocast of the inner ear of Wonambi is too incomplete to be included in a geometric morphometrics study, its preserved morphology is very different from that of Yurlunggur and suggests a more generalist ecology. Osteology, palaeoclimatic data and the palaeobiogeographic distribution of these two snakes are all consistent with these inferred ecological differences.
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spelling pubmed-58827232018-04-13 Palaeoecological inferences for the fossil Australian snakes Yurlunggur and Wonambi (Serpentes, Madtsoiidae) Palci, Alessandro Hutchinson, Mark N. Caldwell, Michael W. Scanlon, John D. Lee, Michael S. Y. R Soc Open Sci Biology (Whole Organism) Madtsoiids are among the most basal snakes, with a fossil record dating back to the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian). Most representatives went extinct by the end of the Eocene, but some survived in Australia until the Late Cenozoic. Yurlunggur and Wonambi are two of these late forms, and also the best-known madtsoiids to date. A better understanding of the anatomy and palaeoecology of these taxa may shed light on the evolution and extinction of this poorly known group of snakes and on early snake evolution in general. A digital endocast of the inner ear of Yurlunggur was compared to those of 81 species of snakes and lizards with known ecological preferences using three-dimensional geometric morphometrics. The inner ear of Yurlunggur most closely resembles both that of certain semiaquatic snakes and that of some semifossorial snakes. Other cranial and postcranial features of this snake support the semifossorial interpretation. While the digital endocast of the inner ear of Wonambi is too incomplete to be included in a geometric morphometrics study, its preserved morphology is very different from that of Yurlunggur and suggests a more generalist ecology. Osteology, palaeoclimatic data and the palaeobiogeographic distribution of these two snakes are all consistent with these inferred ecological differences. The Royal Society Publishing 2018-03-14 /pmc/articles/PMC5882723/ /pubmed/29657799 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.172012 Text en © 2018 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 Biology (Whole Organism)
Palci, Alessandro
Hutchinson, Mark N.
Caldwell, Michael W.
Scanlon, John D.
Lee, Michael S. Y.
Palaeoecological inferences for the fossil Australian snakes Yurlunggur and Wonambi (Serpentes, Madtsoiidae)
title Palaeoecological inferences for the fossil Australian snakes Yurlunggur and Wonambi (Serpentes, Madtsoiidae)
title_full Palaeoecological inferences for the fossil Australian snakes Yurlunggur and Wonambi (Serpentes, Madtsoiidae)
title_fullStr Palaeoecological inferences for the fossil Australian snakes Yurlunggur and Wonambi (Serpentes, Madtsoiidae)
title_full_unstemmed Palaeoecological inferences for the fossil Australian snakes Yurlunggur and Wonambi (Serpentes, Madtsoiidae)
title_short Palaeoecological inferences for the fossil Australian snakes Yurlunggur and Wonambi (Serpentes, Madtsoiidae)
title_sort palaeoecological inferences for the fossil australian snakes yurlunggur and wonambi (serpentes, madtsoiidae)
topic Biology (Whole Organism)
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5882723/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29657799
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.172012
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