Inferring lifestyle for Aves and Theropoda: A model based on curvatures of extant avian ungual bones.
Claws are involved in a number of behaviours including locomotion and prey capture, and as a result animals evolve claw morphologies that enable these functions. Past authors have found geometry of the keratinous sheath of the claw to correlate with mode of life for extant birds and squamates; this...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2020-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0211173 |
| _version_ | 1819031885438779392 |
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| author | Savannah Elizabeth Cobb William I Sellers |
| author_facet | Savannah Elizabeth Cobb William I Sellers |
| author_sort | Savannah Elizabeth Cobb |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Claws are involved in a number of behaviours including locomotion and prey capture, and as a result animals evolve claw morphologies that enable these functions. Past authors have found geometry of the keratinous sheath of the claw to correlate with mode of life for extant birds and squamates; this relationship has frequently been cited to infer lifestyles for Mesozoic theropods including Archaeopteryx. However, many fossil claws lack keratinous sheaths and thus cannot be analysed using current methods. As the ungual phalanx within the claw is more commonly preserved in the fossil record, geometry of this bone may provide a more useful metric for paleontological analysis. In this study, ungual bones of 108 birds and 5 squamates were imaged using X-ray techniques and a relationship was found between curvatures of the ungual bone within the claw of pedal digit III and four modes of life; ground-dwelling, perching, predatory, and scansorial; using linear discriminant analysis with weighted accuracy equal to 0.79. Our model predicts arboreal lifestyles for Archaeopteryx and Microraptor and a predatory ecology for Confuciusornis. These findings demonstrate the utility of our model in answering questions of palaeoecology, the theropod-bird transition, and the evolution of avian flight. Though the metric exhibits a strong correlation with lifestyle, morphospaces for PD-III curvatures overlap and so this metric should be considered alongside additional evidence. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T06:53:09Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d1aaa496e2614050b044e1dedb1acf40 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T06:53:09Z |
| publishDate | 2020-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-d1aaa496e2614050b044e1dedb1acf402022-12-21T19:12:26ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032020-01-01152e021117310.1371/journal.pone.0211173Inferring lifestyle for Aves and Theropoda: A model based on curvatures of extant avian ungual bones.Savannah Elizabeth CobbWilliam I SellersClaws are involved in a number of behaviours including locomotion and prey capture, and as a result animals evolve claw morphologies that enable these functions. Past authors have found geometry of the keratinous sheath of the claw to correlate with mode of life for extant birds and squamates; this relationship has frequently been cited to infer lifestyles for Mesozoic theropods including Archaeopteryx. However, many fossil claws lack keratinous sheaths and thus cannot be analysed using current methods. As the ungual phalanx within the claw is more commonly preserved in the fossil record, geometry of this bone may provide a more useful metric for paleontological analysis. In this study, ungual bones of 108 birds and 5 squamates were imaged using X-ray techniques and a relationship was found between curvatures of the ungual bone within the claw of pedal digit III and four modes of life; ground-dwelling, perching, predatory, and scansorial; using linear discriminant analysis with weighted accuracy equal to 0.79. Our model predicts arboreal lifestyles for Archaeopteryx and Microraptor and a predatory ecology for Confuciusornis. These findings demonstrate the utility of our model in answering questions of palaeoecology, the theropod-bird transition, and the evolution of avian flight. Though the metric exhibits a strong correlation with lifestyle, morphospaces for PD-III curvatures overlap and so this metric should be considered alongside additional evidence.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0211173 |
| spellingShingle | Savannah Elizabeth Cobb William I Sellers Inferring lifestyle for Aves and Theropoda: A model based on curvatures of extant avian ungual bones. PLoS ONE |
| title | Inferring lifestyle for Aves and Theropoda: A model based on curvatures of extant avian ungual bones. |
| title_full | Inferring lifestyle for Aves and Theropoda: A model based on curvatures of extant avian ungual bones. |
| title_fullStr | Inferring lifestyle for Aves and Theropoda: A model based on curvatures of extant avian ungual bones. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Inferring lifestyle for Aves and Theropoda: A model based on curvatures of extant avian ungual bones. |
| title_short | Inferring lifestyle for Aves and Theropoda: A model based on curvatures of extant avian ungual bones. |
| title_sort | inferring lifestyle for aves and theropoda a model based on curvatures of extant avian ungual bones |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0211173 |
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