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A morphological analysis of carnivoran ossicles from Rancho La Brea
The morphology of the mammalian middle ear—including the size, shape, and stiffness of individual ossicles—controls their vibrational response to sound and, is closely related to an animal's auditory capabilities. While the relationship between middle ear morphology and hearing frequency has be...
Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
John Wiley and Sons Inc.
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9826070/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36041006 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jmor.21506 |
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author | Dickinson, Edwin Elminowski, Erin E. Flores, Deanna Eldridge, Emma I. Granatosky, Michael C. Hartstone‐Rose, Adam |
author_facet | Dickinson, Edwin Elminowski, Erin E. Flores, Deanna Eldridge, Emma I. Granatosky, Michael C. Hartstone‐Rose, Adam |
author_sort | Dickinson, Edwin |
collection | PubMed |
description | The morphology of the mammalian middle ear—including the size, shape, and stiffness of individual ossicles—controls their vibrational response to sound and, is closely related to an animal's auditory capabilities. While the relationship between middle ear morphology and hearing frequency has been explored in living carnivorans, the size and shape of ossicles in fossil carnivorans have been sparsely documented. In this study, we present the first morphological data on four iconic carnivoran taxa from the Rancho La Brea Tar Pits: Smilodon fatalis, Panthera atrox, Canis dirus, and Arctodus simus. These data are contextualized with samples of extant felids, canids, and ursids to determine the extent to which the ossicles of these iconic fossil taxa resemble their living relatives. Six, five, and seven linear measurements were taken from the malleus, incus, and stapes, respectively. Comparisons of geometric means reveal that the ossicles of fossil canids and felids are similar in size to living analogs, but those of A. simus are significantly larger than those of any living ursid. Further, principal components analyses demonstrate close morphological affinities between fossil and extant taxa within canids and felids, and again, a greater disparity between fossil and extant ursids. Canids and ursids occupy distinct regions of the morphospace, yet both overlap the morphological range spanned by felids. While some elements—for example, the stapes—require further specimens to facilitate more nuanced interpretations of variation, our findings underscore the need for concerted efforts towards identifying and preserving these bones within fossil assemblages. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9826070 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | John Wiley and Sons Inc. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-98260702023-01-09 A morphological analysis of carnivoran ossicles from Rancho La Brea Dickinson, Edwin Elminowski, Erin E. Flores, Deanna Eldridge, Emma I. Granatosky, Michael C. Hartstone‐Rose, Adam J Morphol Research Articles The morphology of the mammalian middle ear—including the size, shape, and stiffness of individual ossicles—controls their vibrational response to sound and, is closely related to an animal's auditory capabilities. While the relationship between middle ear morphology and hearing frequency has been explored in living carnivorans, the size and shape of ossicles in fossil carnivorans have been sparsely documented. In this study, we present the first morphological data on four iconic carnivoran taxa from the Rancho La Brea Tar Pits: Smilodon fatalis, Panthera atrox, Canis dirus, and Arctodus simus. These data are contextualized with samples of extant felids, canids, and ursids to determine the extent to which the ossicles of these iconic fossil taxa resemble their living relatives. Six, five, and seven linear measurements were taken from the malleus, incus, and stapes, respectively. Comparisons of geometric means reveal that the ossicles of fossil canids and felids are similar in size to living analogs, but those of A. simus are significantly larger than those of any living ursid. Further, principal components analyses demonstrate close morphological affinities between fossil and extant taxa within canids and felids, and again, a greater disparity between fossil and extant ursids. Canids and ursids occupy distinct regions of the morphospace, yet both overlap the morphological range spanned by felids. While some elements—for example, the stapes—require further specimens to facilitate more nuanced interpretations of variation, our findings underscore the need for concerted efforts towards identifying and preserving these bones within fossil assemblages. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2022-09-08 2022-10 /pmc/articles/PMC9826070/ /pubmed/36041006 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jmor.21506 Text en © 2022 The Authors. Journal of Morphology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non‐commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. |
spellingShingle | Research Articles Dickinson, Edwin Elminowski, Erin E. Flores, Deanna Eldridge, Emma I. Granatosky, Michael C. Hartstone‐Rose, Adam A morphological analysis of carnivoran ossicles from Rancho La Brea |
title | A morphological analysis of carnivoran ossicles from Rancho La Brea |
title_full | A morphological analysis of carnivoran ossicles from Rancho La Brea |
title_fullStr | A morphological analysis of carnivoran ossicles from Rancho La Brea |
title_full_unstemmed | A morphological analysis of carnivoran ossicles from Rancho La Brea |
title_short | A morphological analysis of carnivoran ossicles from Rancho La Brea |
title_sort | morphological analysis of carnivoran ossicles from rancho la brea |
topic | Research Articles |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9826070/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36041006 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jmor.21506 |
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