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Green TL, Kay DI, Gignac PM. Intraspecific variation and directional casque asymmetry in adult southern cassowaries (
Casuarius casuarius
). J Anat 2022; 241:951-965. [PMID: 35933695 PMCID: PMC9482693 DOI: 10.1111/joa.13733] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2022] [Revised: 06/17/2022] [Accepted: 07/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
The cranial casques of modern cassowaries (Casuarius) have long intrigued researchers; however, in‐depth studies regarding their morphological variation are scarce. Through visual inspection, it has been recognized that casque variability exists between conspecifics. Understanding casque variation has both evolutionary and ecological importance. Although hypothesized to be targeted by selection, intraspecific casque variation has not been quantified previously. Through a large sample of C. casuarius (n = 103), we compared casque shape (lateral and rostral views) between sexes and between individuals from non‐overlapping geographical regions using two‐dimensional (2D) geometric morphometrics. We found no statistically significant differences between the casque shape of females and males and few substantial shape differences between individuals from different geographic areas. Much of the intraspecific variation within C. casuarius is due to casque asymmetries (77.5% rightward deviating, 20.7% leftward deviating, and 1.8% non‐deviating from the midline; n = 111), which explain the high variability of southern cassowary casque shape, particularly from the rostral aspect. Finally, we discuss how our non‐significant findings implicate social selection theory, and we identify the benefits of quantifying such variation for further elucidating casque function(s) and the social biology of cassowaries.
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Affiliation(s)
- Todd L. Green
- Department of Anatomy New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine Old Westbury New York USA
- Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences Tulsa Oklahoma USA
| | - David Ian Kay
- Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences Tulsa Oklahoma USA
| | - Paul M. Gignac
- Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences Tulsa Oklahoma USA
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine University of Arizona College of Medicine Tucson Arizona USA
- Division of Paleontology American Museum of Natural History New York New York USA
- MicroCT Imaging Consortium for Research and Outreach (MICRO) Fayetteville Arkansas USA
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Miller CV, Pittman M, Wang X, Zheng X, Bright JA. Diet of Mesozoic toothed birds (Longipterygidae) inferred from quantitative analysis of extant avian diet proxies. BMC Biol 2022; 20:101. [PMID: 35550084 PMCID: PMC9097364 DOI: 10.1186/s12915-022-01294-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2021] [Accepted: 04/12/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Birds are key indicator species in extant ecosystems, and thus we would expect extinct birds to provide insights into the nature of ancient ecosystems. However, many aspects of extinct bird ecology, particularly their diet, remain obscure. One group of particular interest is the bizarre toothed and long-snouted longipterygid birds. Longipterygidae is the most well-understood family of enantiornithine birds, the dominant birds of the Cretaceous period. However, as with most Mesozoic birds, their diet remains entirely speculative. Results To improve our understanding of longipterygids, we investigated four proxies in extant birds to determine diagnostic traits for birds with a given diet: body mass, claw morphometrics, jaw mechanical advantage, and jaw strength via finite element analysis. Body mass of birds tended to correspond to the size of their main food source, with both carnivores and herbivores splitting into two subsets by mass: invertivores or vertivores for carnivores, and granivores + nectarivores or folivores + frugivores for herbivores. Using claw morphometrics, we successfully distinguished ground birds, non-raptorial perching birds, and raptorial birds from one another. We were unable to replicate past results isolating subtypes of raptorial behaviour. Mechanical advantage was able to distinguish herbivorous diets with particularly high values of functional indices, and so is useful for identifying these specific diets in fossil taxa, but overall did a poor job of reflecting diet. Finite element analysis effectively separated birds with hard and/or tough diets from those eating foods which are neither, though could not distinguish hard and tough diets from one another. We reconstructed each of these proxies in longipterygids as well, and after synthesising the four lines of evidence, we find all members of the family but Shengjingornis (whose diet remains inconclusive) most likely to be invertivores or generalist feeders, with raptorial behaviour likely in Longipteryx and Rapaxavis. Conclusions This study provides a 20% increase in quantitatively supported fossil bird diets, triples the number of diets reconstructed in enantiornithine species, and serves as an important first step in quantitatively investigating the origins of the trophic diversity of living birds. These findings are consistent with past hypotheses that Mesozoic birds occupied low trophic levels. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12915-022-01294-3.
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Affiliation(s)
- Case Vincent Miller
- Department of Earth Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, China.
| | - Michael Pittman
- School of Life Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong SAR, China. .,Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK.
| | - Xiaoli Wang
- Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Linyi University, Linyi City, Shandong, 276005, China.,Shandong Tianyu Museum of Nature, Pingyi, Shandong, 273300, China
| | - Xiaoting Zheng
- Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Linyi University, Linyi City, Shandong, 276005, China.,Shandong Tianyu Museum of Nature, Pingyi, Shandong, 273300, China
| | - Jen A Bright
- Department of Biological and Marine Sciences, University of Hull, Hull, HU6 7RX, UK
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Ősi A, Magyar J, Rosta K, Vickaryous M. Cranial ornamentation in the Late Cretaceous nodosaurid ankylosaur Hungarosaurus. PeerJ 2021; 9:e11010. [PMID: 33717709 PMCID: PMC7936564 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.11010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2020] [Accepted: 02/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Bony cranial ornamentation is developed by many groups of vertebrates, including ankylosaur dinosaurs. To date, the morphology and ontogenetic origin of ankylosaurian cranial ornamentation has primarily focused on a limited number of species from only one of the two major lineages, Ankylosauridae. For members of the sister group Nodosauridae, less is known. Here, we provide new details of the cranial anatomy of the nodosaurid Hungarosaurus from the Santonian of Europe. Based on a number of previously described and newly identified fragmentary skulls and skull elements, we recognize three different size classes of Hungarosaurus. We interpret these size classes as representing different stages of ontogeny. Cranial ornamentation is already well-developed in the earliest ontogenetic stage represented herein, suggesting that the presence of outgrowths may have played a role in intra- and interspecific recognition. We find no evidence that cranial ornamentation in Hungarosaurus involves the contribution of coossified osteoderms. Instead, available evidence indicates that cranial ornamentation forms as a result of the elaboration of individual elements. Although individual differences and sexual dimorphism cannot be excluded, the observed variation in Hungarosaurus cranial ornamentation appears to be associated with ontogeny.
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Affiliation(s)
- Attila Ősi
- Department of Paleontology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary.,Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, Hungary
| | - János Magyar
- Department of Paleontology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Károly Rosta
- Department of Paleontology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
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Saitta ET, Stockdale MT, Longrich NR, Bonhomme V, Benton MJ, Cuthill IC, Makovicky PJ. An effect size statistical framework for investigating sexual dimorphism in non-avian dinosaurs and other extinct taxa. Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2020. [DOI: 10.1093/biolinnean/blaa105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Despite reports of sexual dimorphism in extinct taxa, such claims in non-avian dinosaurs have been rare over the last decade and have often been criticized. Since dimorphism is widespread in sexually reproducing organisms today, under-reporting in the literature might suggest either methodological shortcomings or that this diverse group exhibited highly unusual reproductive biology. Univariate significance testing, especially for bimodality, is ineffective and prone to false negatives. Species recognition and mutual sexual selection hypotheses, therefore, may not be required to explain supposed absence of sexual dimorphism across the grade (a type II error). Instead, multiple lines of evidence support sexual selection and variation of structures consistent with secondary sexual characteristics, strongly suggesting sexual dimorphism in non-avian dinosaurs. We propose a framework for studying sexual dimorphism in fossils, focusing on likely secondary sexual traits and testing against all alternate hypotheses for variation in them using multiple lines of evidence. We use effect size statistics appropriate for low sample sizes, rather than significance testing, to analyse potential divergence of growth curves in traits and constrain estimates for dimorphism magnitude. In many cases, estimates of sexual variation can be reasonably accurate, and further developments in methods to improve sex assignments and account for intrasexual variation (e.g. mixture modelling) will improve accuracy. It is better to compare estimates for the magnitude of and support for dimorphism between datasets than to dichotomously reject or fail to reject monomorphism in a single species, enabling the study of sexual selection across phylogenies and time. We defend our approach with simulated and empirical data, including dinosaur data, showing that even simple approaches can yield fairly accurate estimates of sexual variation in many cases, allowing for comparison of species with high and low support for sexual variation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Evan T Saitta
- Life Sciences Section, Integrative Research Center, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL, USA
| | | | - Nicholas R Longrich
- Department of Biology and Biochemistry and Milner Centre for Evolution, University of Bath, Bath, UK
| | - Vincent Bonhomme
- Institut des sciences de l’évolution, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | | | - Innes C Cuthill
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Peter J Makovicky
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
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Xie S, Cai B, Rasidi E, Yen CC, Hsu CD, Chow WT, De Busscher V, Hsu LC. The use of a 3D-printed prosthesis in a Great Hornbill (Buceros bicornis) with squamous cell carcinoma of the casque. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0220922. [PMID: 31408483 PMCID: PMC6692028 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0220922] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2019] [Accepted: 07/25/2019] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The advent of new technologies in medical imaging and 3D printing in recent years has made customization of surgical tools and implants more accessible, revolutionizing many surgical fields. In many human diseases, these implants have led to superior surgical outcomes and greatly improved patients’ quality of life. Thus, it is of great interest to apply these technologies to the treatment of animal diseases. In this study, we report the use of computed tomography (CT) and 3D printing for the treatment of a Great Hornbill at Jurong Bird Park that was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of the casque. A 3D printed prosthesis that perfectly fitted the subject was implanted to replace its resected casque. The subject exhibited natural eating behaviour with no post-operative complications. Using this case as an example, the positive outcomes suggest a great potential in applying these technologies to the treatment of other wildlife diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shangzhe Xie
- Wildlife Reserves Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
- * E-mail:
| | - Bohong Cai
- Keio-NUS CUTE Center, Smart Systems Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Ellen Rasidi
- Wildlife Reserves Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Ching-Chiuan Yen
- Keio-NUS CUTE Center, Smart Systems Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
- Division of Industrial Design, School of Design and Environment, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Chia-da Hsu
- Wildlife Reserves Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Wai Tung Chow
- Keio-NUS CUTE Center, Smart Systems Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
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6
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Affiliation(s)
- Rui Tahara
- Redpath Museum, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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7
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What Is Your Diagnosis? J Avian Med Surg 2018; 32:158-163. [PMID: 29905109 DOI: 10.1647/2017-272] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
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Gjeltema JL, De Voe RS, Phillips BE, Stoskopf MK. Casque infection, resolution, and subsequent repneumatization in a trumpeter hornbill (Bycanistes buccinator). Vet Q 2015; 35:177-80. [PMID: 25909990 DOI: 10.1080/01652176.2015.1035462] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Jenessa L Gjeltema
- a Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine , North Carolina State University , 1060 William Moore Dr., Raleigh 27607 , NC, USA
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Kusmierczyk J, Wall CR, Hoppes S, Budke CM, Spaulding KA. Comparison of Computed Tomographic Images of Birds Obtained With Sedation vs General Anesthesia. J Exot Pet Med 2013. [DOI: 10.1053/j.jepm.2013.08.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
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Petnehazy O, Benczik J, Takacs I, Petrasi Z, Sütő Z, Horn P, Repa I. Computed Tomographical (CT) Anatomy of the Thoracoabdominal Cavity of the Male Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo). Anat Histol Embryol 2011; 41:12-20. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1439-0264.2011.01099.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Baussart S, Bels V. Tropical hornbills (Aceros cassidix, Aceros undulatus, and Buceros hydrocorax) use ballistic transport to feed with their large beaks. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2011; 315A:72-83. [PMID: 20140955 DOI: 10.1002/jez.590] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
The most common and plesiomorphic mechanism of food transport in tetrapods is lingual-based. Neognathous birds use this mechanism for exploiting a large diversity of food resources, whereas paleognathous birds use cranioinertial mechanism with or without tongue involvement. Food transport in three hornbills' species (Aceros cassidix, A. undulatus, and Buceros hydrocorax) is defined by a ballistic transport mechanism. Only one transport cycle is used for moving the food from the tip of the beak to the pharynx. The tongue never makes contact with the food nor is it used to expand the buccal cavity. In hornbills, filmed through high-speed video, time to food release occurred between 0.11 and 0.16 sec before time to maximum gape. The ballistic curves show similar patterns. Maximum gape angle is significantly different between the three species. Each species show a different kinematic and motor pattern of head movements associated with ballistic transport. In A. undulatus, head rotation follows a continuous pattern similar to that reported earlier in toucans. A. cassidix rotates head downward at the time of maximum gape to permit food to reach the pharynx without touching the mandible. B. hydrocorax elevates the head along the transport cycle to avoid contact with the food to the cavity of the upper beak. Selection of large food items in the diet may explain the evolutionary trend of using ballistic transport in the feeding behavior of hornbills, which play a key role in tropical forest ecology by dispersing seeds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sabine Baussart
- UMR7179 CNRS, Department Ecologie et Gestion de la Biodiversité, National Museum of Natural History, Paris, France.
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Mackey EB, Hernandez-Divers SJ, Holland M, Frank P. Clinical Technique: Application of Computed Tomography in Zoological Medicine. J Exot Pet Med 2008. [DOI: 10.1053/j.jepm.2008.05.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
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