What are the limits on whale ear bone size? Non-isometric scaling of the cetacean bulla

What are the limits on whale ear bone size? Non-isometric scaling of the cetacean bulla

The history of cetaceans demonstrates dramatic macroevolutionary changes that have aided their transformation from terrestrial to obligate aquatic mammals. Their fossil record shows extensive anatomical modifications that facilitate life in a marine environment. To better understand the constraints...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PeerJ (San Francisco, CA) Vol. 9; p. e10882
Main Authors: Groves, Sabrina L, Peredo, Carlos Mauricio, Pyenson, Nicholas D
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States PeerJ. Ltd 05-02-2021
PeerJ, Inc
PeerJ Inc
Subjects:
Acoustics
Allometry
Anatomy and Physiology
Animal behavior
Body size
Bulla
Cetacea
Cetacean
Datasets
Ear
Ecology
Evolutionary Studies
Fossils
Isometric
Marine Biology
Marine environment
Measurement techniques
Paleontology
Phylogenetics
Scaling
Taxonomy
Whale
Odontocete
Whale
Cetacean
Bulla
Ear
Mysticete
Evolution
Scaling
Allometry
Stem cetacean
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Summary:The history of cetaceans demonstrates dramatic macroevolutionary changes that have aided their transformation from terrestrial to obligate aquatic mammals. Their fossil record shows extensive anatomical modifications that facilitate life in a marine environment. To better understand the constraints on this transition, we examined the physical dimensions of the bony auditory complex, in relation to body size, for both living and extinct cetaceans. We compared the dimensions of the tympanic bulla, a conch-shaped ear bone unique to cetaceans, with bizygomatic width-a proxy for cetacean body size. Our results demonstrate that cetacean ears scale non-isometrically with body size, with about 70% of variation explained by increases in bizygomatic width. Our results, which encompass the breadth of the whale fossil record, size diversity, and taxonomic distribution, suggest that functional auditory capacity is constrained by congruent factors related to cranial morphology, as opposed to allometrically scaling with body size.
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ISSN:2167-8359
2167-8359
DOI:10.7717/peerj.10882