The evolution of the vestibular apparatus in apes and humans
Phylogenetic relationships among extinct hominoids (apes and humans) are controversial due to pervasive homoplasy and the incompleteness of the fossil record. The bony labyrinth might contribute to this debate, as it displays strong phylogenetic signal among other mammals. However, the potential of...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
2020-03-01
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| Series: | eLife |
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| Online Access: | https://elifesciences.org/articles/51261 |
| _version_ | 1811180960862961664 |
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| author | Alessandro Urciuoli Clément Zanolli Amélie Beaudet Jean Dumoncel Frédéric Santos Salvador Moyà-Solà David M Alba |
| author_facet | Alessandro Urciuoli Clément Zanolli Amélie Beaudet Jean Dumoncel Frédéric Santos Salvador Moyà-Solà David M Alba |
| author_sort | Alessandro Urciuoli |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Phylogenetic relationships among extinct hominoids (apes and humans) are controversial due to pervasive homoplasy and the incompleteness of the fossil record. The bony labyrinth might contribute to this debate, as it displays strong phylogenetic signal among other mammals. However, the potential of the vestibular apparatus for phylogenetic reconstruction among fossil apes remains understudied. Here we test and quantify the phylogenetic signal embedded in the vestibular morphology of extant anthropoids (monkeys, apes and humans) and two extinct apes (Oreopithecus and Australopithecus) as captured by a deformation-based 3D geometric morphometric analysis. We also reconstruct the ancestral morphology of various hominoid clades based on phylogenetically-informed maximum likelihood methods. Besides revealing strong phylogenetic signal in the vestibule and enabling the proposal of potential synapomorphies for various hominoid clades, our results confirm the relevance of vestibular morphology for addressing the controversial phylogenetic relationships of fossil apes. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T09:12:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ad22e4d483094d55afee34f95c3ddd41 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2050-084X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T09:12:03Z |
| publishDate | 2020-03-01 |
| publisher | eLife Sciences Publications Ltd |
| record_format | Article |
| series | eLife |
| spelling | doaj.art-ad22e4d483094d55afee34f95c3ddd412022-12-22T04:32:29ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2020-03-01910.7554/eLife.51261The evolution of the vestibular apparatus in apes and humansAlessandro Urciuoli0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6265-8962Clément Zanolli1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5617-1613Amélie Beaudet2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9363-5966Jean Dumoncel3Frédéric Santos4https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1445-3871Salvador Moyà-Solà5David M Alba6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8886-5580Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, SpainLaboratoire PACEA, UMR 5199 CNRS, Université de Bordeaux, Pessac, FranceSchool of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa; Department of Anatomy, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South AfricaLaboratoire AMIS, UMR 5288 CNRS, Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, FranceLaboratoire PACEA, UMR 5199 CNRS, Université de Bordeaux, Pessac, FranceInstitut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain; Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain; Unitat d’Antropologia (Departament de Biologia Animal, Biologia Vegetal i Ecologia), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, SpainInstitut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, SpainPhylogenetic relationships among extinct hominoids (apes and humans) are controversial due to pervasive homoplasy and the incompleteness of the fossil record. The bony labyrinth might contribute to this debate, as it displays strong phylogenetic signal among other mammals. However, the potential of the vestibular apparatus for phylogenetic reconstruction among fossil apes remains understudied. Here we test and quantify the phylogenetic signal embedded in the vestibular morphology of extant anthropoids (monkeys, apes and humans) and two extinct apes (Oreopithecus and Australopithecus) as captured by a deformation-based 3D geometric morphometric analysis. We also reconstruct the ancestral morphology of various hominoid clades based on phylogenetically-informed maximum likelihood methods. Besides revealing strong phylogenetic signal in the vestibule and enabling the proposal of potential synapomorphies for various hominoid clades, our results confirm the relevance of vestibular morphology for addressing the controversial phylogenetic relationships of fossil apes.https://elifesciences.org/articles/51261hominoidsevolutionphylogenyvestibular systemgeometric morphometricsprimates |
| spellingShingle | Alessandro Urciuoli Clément Zanolli Amélie Beaudet Jean Dumoncel Frédéric Santos Salvador Moyà-Solà David M Alba The evolution of the vestibular apparatus in apes and humans eLife hominoids evolution phylogeny vestibular system geometric morphometrics primates |
| title | The evolution of the vestibular apparatus in apes and humans |
| title_full | The evolution of the vestibular apparatus in apes and humans |
| title_fullStr | The evolution of the vestibular apparatus in apes and humans |
| title_full_unstemmed | The evolution of the vestibular apparatus in apes and humans |
| title_short | The evolution of the vestibular apparatus in apes and humans |
| title_sort | evolution of the vestibular apparatus in apes and humans |
| topic | hominoids evolution phylogeny vestibular system geometric morphometrics primates |
| url | https://elifesciences.org/articles/51261 |
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