ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2012
High morphological variation of vestibular system accompanies slow and infrequent locomotion in three-toed sloths.
Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers.
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37 citing papers in PubMed, 96 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Morphometric study of the bony labyrinth of the inner ear in the European moles Talpa europaea, Talpa occidentalis, and Talpa aquitania.Journal of anatomy · 2026Article
- Semicircular canal morphology in Rodentia and its relationship to locomotion.Journal of anatomy · 2025Article
- An almost complete cranium ofSwiss journal of palaeontology · 2025Article
- Development of the semicircular canals and otolithic organs of the vertebrate inner ear.Current topics in developmental biology · 2025Review
- Inner ear morphology in wild versus laboratory house mice.Journal of anatomy · 2024Article
- Independent origin of large labyrinth size in turtles.Nature communications · 2022Article
- Petrosal and bony labyrinth morphology of the stem paenungulate mammal (Paenungulatomorpha) Ocepeia daouiensis from the Paleocene of Morocco.Journal of anatomy · 2022Article
- Exploring the ontogenetic development of the inner ear in Aardvarks.Journal of anatomy · 2021Article
- The internal cranial anatomy of Champsosaurus (Choristodera: Champsosauridae): Implications for neurosensory function.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Evolution of the Mammalian Ear: An Evolvability Hypothesis.Evolutionary biology · 2020Article
- High ellipticity reduces semi-circular canal sensitivity in squamates compared to mammals.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- The vertebrate middle and inner ear: A short overview.Journal of morphology · 2019Review
- Carnivoran hunting style and phylogeny reflected in bony labyrinth morphometry.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Article
- Bone cortical compactness in 'tree sloths' reflects convergent evolution.Journal of anatomy · 2018Article
- Neuroanatomy and inner ear labyrinths of the narwhal, Monodon monoceros, and beluga, Delphinapterus leucas (Cetacea: Monodontidae).Journal of anatomy · 2018Article
- Phylogenetic and functional implications of the ear region anatomy of Glossotherium robustum (Xenarthra, Mylodontidae) from the Late Pleistocene of Argentina.Die Naturwissenschaften · 2018Article
- Endothiodon cf. bathystoma (Synapsida: Dicynodontia) bony labyrinth anatomy, variation and body mass estimates.PloS one · 2018Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The semicircular canals (SCs), part of the vestibular apparatus of the inner ear, are directly involved in the detection of angular motion of the head for maintaining balance, and exhibit adaptive patterns for locomotor behaviour. Consequently, they are generally believed to show low levels of intraspecific morphological variation, but few studies have investigated this assumption. On the basis of high-resolution computed tomography, we present here, to our knowledge, the first comprehensive study of the pattern of variation of the inner ear with a focus on Xenarthra. Our study demonstrates that extant three-toed sloths show a high level of morphological variation of the bony labyrinth of the inner ear. Especially, the variation in shape, relative size and angles of their SCs greatly differ from those of other, faster-moving taxa within Xenarthra and Placentalia in general. The unique pattern of variation in three-toed sloths suggests that a release of selection and/or constraints on their organ of balance is associated with the observed wide range of phenotypes. This release is coincident with their slow and infrequent locomotion and may be related, among other possible factors, to a reduced functional demand for a precise sensitivity to movement.
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