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Teeth, prenatal growth rates, and the evolution of human-like pregnancy in later Homo. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2200689119. [PMID: 36191229 PMCID: PMC9564099 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2200689119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Evidence of how gestational parameters evolved is essential to understanding this fundamental stage of human life. Until now, these data seemed elusive given the skeletal bias of the fossil record. We demonstrate that dentition provides a window into the life of neonates. Teeth begin to form in utero and are intimately associated with gestational development. We measured the molar dentition for 608 catarrhine primates and collected data on prenatal growth rate (PGR) and endocranial volume (ECV) for 19 primate genera from the literature. We found that PGR and ECV are highly correlated (R2 = 0.93, P < 0.001). Additionally, we demonstrated that molar proportions are significantly correlated with PGR (P = 0.004) and log-transformed ECV (P = 0.001). From these correlations, we developed two methods for reconstructing PGR in the fossil record, one using ECV and one using molar proportions. Dental proportions reconstruct hominid ECV (R2 = 0.81, P < 0.001), a result that can be extrapolated to PGR. As teeth dominate fossil assemblages, our findings greatly expand our ability to investigate life history in the fossil record. Fossil ECVs and dental measurements from 13 hominid species both support significantly increasing PGR throughout the terminal Miocene and Plio-Pleistocene, reflecting known evolutionary changes. Together with pelvic and endocranial morphology, reconstructed PGRs indicate the need for increasing maternal energetics during pregnancy over the last 6 million years, reaching a human-like PGR (i.e., more similar to humans than to other extant apes) and ECV in later Homo less than 1 million years ago.
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Holding ML, Trevine VC, Zinenko O, Strickland JL, Rautsaw RM, Mason AJ, Hogan MP, Parkinson CL, Grazziotin FG, Santana SE, Davis MA, Rokyta DR. Evolutionary allometry and ecological correlates of fang length evolution in vipers. Proc Biol Sci 2022; 289:20221132. [PMID: 36300520 PMCID: PMC9449470 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.1132] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2022] [Accepted: 08/11/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Traits for prey acquisition form the phenotypic interface of predator-prey interactions. In venomous predators, morphological variation in venom delivery apparatus like fangs and stingers may be optimized for dispatching prey. Here, we determine how a single dimension of venom injection systems evolves in response to variation in the size, climatic conditions and dietary ecology of viperid snakes. We measured fang length in more than 1900 museum specimens representing 199 viper species (55% of recognized species). We find both phylogenetic signal and within-clade variation in relative fang length across vipers suggesting both general taxonomic trends and potential adaptive divergence in fang length. We recover positive evolutionary allometry and little static allometry in fang length. Proportionally longer fangs have evolved in larger species, which may facilitate venom injection in more voluminous prey. Finally, we leverage climatic and diet data to assess the global correlates of fang length. We find that models of fang length evolution are improved through the inclusion of both temperature and diet, particularly the extent to which diets are mammal-heavy diets. These findings demonstrate how adaptive variation can emerge among components of complex prey capture systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew L. Holding
- Department of Biological Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA
| | - Vivian C. Trevine
- Laboratório de Coleções Zoológicas, Instituto Butantan, Av. Vital Brazil, 1500, 05503-900 São Paulo, SP, Brazil
| | - Oleksandr Zinenko
- V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, 4 Svobody square, Kharkiv 61022, Ukraine
| | - Jason L. Strickland
- Department of Biological Sciences, Clemson University, 190 Collings street, Clemson, SC 29634, USA
| | - Rhett M. Rautsaw
- Department of Biological Sciences, Clemson University, 190 Collings street, Clemson, SC 29634, USA
| | - Andrew J. Mason
- Department of Biological Sciences, Clemson University, 190 Collings street, Clemson, SC 29634, USA
| | - Michael P. Hogan
- Department of Biological Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA
| | - Christopher L. Parkinson
- Department of Biological Sciences, Clemson University, 190 Collings street, Clemson, SC 29634, USA
| | - Felipe G. Grazziotin
- Laboratório de Coleções Zoológicas, Instituto Butantan, Av. Vital Brazil, 1500, 05503-900 São Paulo, SP, Brazil
| | - Sharlene E. Santana
- Department of Biology and Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98105, USA
| | - Mark A. Davis
- Illinois Natural History Survey, University of Illinois, Champaign, IL 61820, USA
| | - Darin R. Rokyta
- Department of Biological Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA
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Monson TA, Brasil MF, Mahaney MC, Schmitt CA, Taylor CE, Hlusko LJ. Keeping 21st Century Paleontology Grounded: Quantitative Genetic Analyses and Ancestral State Reconstruction Re-Emphasize the Essentiality of Fossils. BIOLOGY 2022; 11:1218. [PMID: 36009845 PMCID: PMC9404954 DOI: 10.3390/biology11081218] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2022] [Revised: 08/10/2022] [Accepted: 08/10/2022] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Advances in genetics and developmental biology are revealing the relationship between genotype and dental phenotype (G:P), providing new approaches for how paleontologists assess dental variation in the fossil record. Our aim was to understand how the method of trait definition influences the ability to reconstruct phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary history in the Cercopithecidae, the Linnaean Family of monkeys currently living in Africa and Asia. We compared the two-dimensional assessment of molar size (calculated as the mesiodistal length of the crown multiplied by the buccolingual breadth) to a trait that reflects developmental influences on molar development (the inhibitory cascade, IC) and two traits that reflect the genetic architecture of postcanine tooth size variation (defined through quantitative genetic analyses: MMC and PMM). All traits were significantly influenced by the additive effects of genes and had similarly high heritability estimates. The proportion of covariate effects was greater for two-dimensional size compared to the G:P-defined traits. IC and MMC both showed evidence of selection, suggesting that they result from the same genetic architecture. When compared to the fossil record, Ancestral State Reconstruction using extant taxa consistently underestimated MMC and PMM values, highlighting the necessity of fossil data for understanding evolutionary patterns in these traits. Given that G:P-defined dental traits may provide insight to biological mechanisms that reach far beyond the dentition, this new approach to fossil morphology has the potential to open an entirely new window onto extinct paleobiologies. Without the fossil record, we would not be able to grasp the full range of variation in those biological mechanisms that have existed throughout evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tesla A. Monson
- Department of Anthropology, Western Washington University, 516 High Street, Bellingham, WA 98225, USA
| | - Marianne F. Brasil
- Berkeley Geochronology Center, 2455 Ridge Road, Berkeley, CA 94709, USA
- Human Evolution Research Center, Valley Life Sciences Building, University of California Berkeley, MC-3140, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Michael C. Mahaney
- Department of Human Genetics, South Texas Diabetes and Obesity Institute, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine, Brownsville, TX 78520, USA
| | - Christopher A. Schmitt
- Department of Anthropology, Boston University, 232 Bay State Road, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Catherine E. Taylor
- Human Evolution Research Center, Valley Life Sciences Building, University of California Berkeley, MC-3140, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Leslea J. Hlusko
- Human Evolution Research Center, Valley Life Sciences Building, University of California Berkeley, MC-3140, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- National Center for Research on Human Evolution (CENIEH), Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca 3, 09002 Burgos, Spain
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López-Aguirre C, Hand SJ, Simmons NB, Silcox MT. Untangling the ecological signal in the dental morphology in the bat superfamily Noctilionoidea. J MAMM EVOL 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s10914-022-09606-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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