Walk before you jump: New insights on early frog locomotion from the oldest known salientian

Understanding the evolution of a Bauplan starts with discriminating phylogenetic signal from adaptation and the latter from exaptation in the observed biodiversity. Whether traits have predated, accompanied, or followed evolution of particular functions is the basic inference to establish the type o...

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Autores principales: Lires, A.I., Soto, I.M., Gómez, R.O.
Formato: JOUR
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Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_00948373_v42_n4_p612_Lires
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spelling todo:paper_00948373_v42_n4_p612_Lires2023-10-03T14:56:35Z Walk before you jump: New insights on early frog locomotion from the oldest known salientian Lires, A.I. Soto, I.M. Gómez, R.O. adaptation amphibian biodiversity evolutionary biology extinction locomotion morphology movement phylogenetics relatedness Amphibia Anura Salamandroidea Squamata Triadobatrachus Vertebrata Understanding the evolution of a Bauplan starts with discriminating phylogenetic signal from adaptation and the latter from exaptation in the observed biodiversity. Whether traits have predated, accompanied, or followed evolution of particular functions is the basic inference to establish the type of explanations required to determine morphological evolution. To accomplish this, we focus in a particular group of vertebrates, the anurans. Frogs and toads have a unique Bauplan among vertebrates, with a set of postcranial features that have been considered adaptations to jumping locomotion since their evolutionary origin. This interpretation is frequently stated but rarely tested in scientific literature. We test this assumption reconstructing the locomotor capabilities of the earliest known salientian, Triadobatrachus massinoti. This extinct taxon exhibits a mosaic of features that have traditionally been considered as representing an intermediate stage in the evolution of the anuran Bauplan, some of which were also linked to jumping skills. We considered T. massinoti in an explicit evolutionary framework by means of multivariate analyses and comparative phylogenetic methods. We used length measurements of major limb bones of 188 extant limbed amphibians (frogs and salamanders) and lizards as a morphological proxy of observed locomotor behavior. Our findings show that limb data correlate with locomotion, regardless of phylogenetic relatedness, and indicate that salamander-like lateral undulatory movements were the main mode of locomotion of T. massinoti. These results contrast with recent hypotheses and indicate that derived postcranial features that T. massinoti shared with anurans might have been later co-opted as exaptations in jumping frogs. © 2016 The Paleontological Society. All rights reserved. Fil:Soto, I.M. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. JOUR info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ar http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_00948373_v42_n4_p612_Lires
institution Universidad de Buenos Aires
institution_str I-28
repository_str R-134
collection Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA)
topic adaptation
amphibian
biodiversity
evolutionary biology
extinction
locomotion
morphology
movement
phylogenetics
relatedness
Amphibia
Anura
Salamandroidea
Squamata
Triadobatrachus
Vertebrata
spellingShingle adaptation
amphibian
biodiversity
evolutionary biology
extinction
locomotion
morphology
movement
phylogenetics
relatedness
Amphibia
Anura
Salamandroidea
Squamata
Triadobatrachus
Vertebrata
Lires, A.I.
Soto, I.M.
Gómez, R.O.
Walk before you jump: New insights on early frog locomotion from the oldest known salientian
topic_facet adaptation
amphibian
biodiversity
evolutionary biology
extinction
locomotion
morphology
movement
phylogenetics
relatedness
Amphibia
Anura
Salamandroidea
Squamata
Triadobatrachus
Vertebrata
description Understanding the evolution of a Bauplan starts with discriminating phylogenetic signal from adaptation and the latter from exaptation in the observed biodiversity. Whether traits have predated, accompanied, or followed evolution of particular functions is the basic inference to establish the type of explanations required to determine morphological evolution. To accomplish this, we focus in a particular group of vertebrates, the anurans. Frogs and toads have a unique Bauplan among vertebrates, with a set of postcranial features that have been considered adaptations to jumping locomotion since their evolutionary origin. This interpretation is frequently stated but rarely tested in scientific literature. We test this assumption reconstructing the locomotor capabilities of the earliest known salientian, Triadobatrachus massinoti. This extinct taxon exhibits a mosaic of features that have traditionally been considered as representing an intermediate stage in the evolution of the anuran Bauplan, some of which were also linked to jumping skills. We considered T. massinoti in an explicit evolutionary framework by means of multivariate analyses and comparative phylogenetic methods. We used length measurements of major limb bones of 188 extant limbed amphibians (frogs and salamanders) and lizards as a morphological proxy of observed locomotor behavior. Our findings show that limb data correlate with locomotion, regardless of phylogenetic relatedness, and indicate that salamander-like lateral undulatory movements were the main mode of locomotion of T. massinoti. These results contrast with recent hypotheses and indicate that derived postcranial features that T. massinoti shared with anurans might have been later co-opted as exaptations in jumping frogs. © 2016 The Paleontological Society. All rights reserved.
format JOUR
author Lires, A.I.
Soto, I.M.
Gómez, R.O.
author_facet Lires, A.I.
Soto, I.M.
Gómez, R.O.
author_sort Lires, A.I.
title Walk before you jump: New insights on early frog locomotion from the oldest known salientian
title_short Walk before you jump: New insights on early frog locomotion from the oldest known salientian
title_full Walk before you jump: New insights on early frog locomotion from the oldest known salientian
title_fullStr Walk before you jump: New insights on early frog locomotion from the oldest known salientian
title_full_unstemmed Walk before you jump: New insights on early frog locomotion from the oldest known salientian
title_sort walk before you jump: new insights on early frog locomotion from the oldest known salientian
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_00948373_v42_n4_p612_Lires
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AT gomezro walkbeforeyoujumpnewinsightsonearlyfroglocomotionfromtheoldestknownsalientian
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