ArticleBMC evolutionary biology2019
Morphological evolution and modularity of the caecilian skull.
Article in BMC evolutionary biology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers.
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Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed, 107 citations in OpenAlex.
- Peristaltic locomotion with a twisted and bent spine in Dermophis mexicanus.The Journal of veterinary medical science · 2026Article
- Cranial Modularity and Integration in Modern Humans: Evidence for Regional Variability and Evolutionary Flexibility.American journal of biological anthropology · 2026Article
- Inter- and intraspecific morphometric divergences in a Seychelles endemic gecko genus.BMC ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- New perspectives on head and neck allometry and ecomorphology in tetrapods.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2026Review
- A suture in time: The ontogeny of cranial suture morphology in mammals.Journal of anatomy · 2026Article
- The Evolution of Skull Shape in Boana faber Clade: Unraveling Heterochrony's Influence.Evolution & development · 2025Article
- Evolutionary Links Between Skull Shape and Body Size Suggest Allometric Forces and Selection at Work in a Generalist Group of Lizards.Ecology and evolution · 2024Article
- Circadian rhythm and surface activity in soil-dwelling caecilians (Amphibia: Gymnophiona).Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Opportunities and Challenges in Applying AI to Evolutionary Morphology.Integrative organismal biology (Oxford, England) · 2024Review
- Reconstructing the origin and early evolution of the snake brain.Science advances · 2023Article
- Developmental origin underlies evolutionary rate variation across the placental skull.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Diversification of the ruminant skull along an evolutionary line of least resistance.Science advances · 2023Article
- The anatomy of the head muscles in caecilians (Amphibia: Gymnophiona): Variation in relation to phylogeny and ecology?Journal of anatomy · 2023Article
- Evolutionary Patterns of Modularity in the Linkage Systems of the Skull in Wrasses and Parrotfish.Integrative organismal biology (Oxford, England) · 2023Article
- Evidence for an evo-devo-derived hypothesis on three-dimensional flower shape modularity in a tropical orchid clade.Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · 2022Article
- Sexual selection leads to positive allometry but not sexual dimorphism in the expression of horn shape in the blue wildebeest, Connochaetes taurinus.BMC ecology and evolution · 2022Article
- Regional differences in vertebral shape along the axial skeleton in caecilians (Amphibia: Gymnophiona).Journal of anatomy · 2022Article
- Flexible conservatism in the skull modularity of convergently evolved myrmecophagous placental mammals.BMC ecology and evolution · 2022Article
- Article
- Evolutionary modularity, integration and disparity in an accretionary skeleton: analysis of venerid Bivalvia.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundCaecilians (Gymnophiona) are the least speciose extant lissamphibian order, yet living forms capture approximately 250 million years of evolution since their earliest divergences. This long history is reflected in the broad range of skull morphologies exhibited by this largely fossorial, but developmentally diverse, clade. However, this diversity of form makes quantification of caecilian cranial morphology challenging, with highly variable presence or absence of many structures. Consequently, few studies have examined morphological evolution across caecilians. This extensive variation also raises the question of degree of conservation of cranial modules (semi-autonomous subsets of highly-integrated traits) within this clade, allowing us to assess the importance of modular organisation in shaping morphological evolution. We used an intensive surface geometric morphometric approach to quantify cranial morphological variation across all 32 extant caecilian genera. We defined 16 cranial regions using 53 landmarks and 687 curve and 729 surface sliding semilandmarks. With these unprecedented high-dimensional data, we analysed cranial shape and modularity across caecilians assessing phylogenetic, allometric and ecological influences on cranial evolution, as well as investigating the relationships among integration, evolutionary rate, and morphological disparity.
resultsWe found highest support for a ten-module model, with greater integration of the posterior skull. Phylogenetic signal was significant (K
conclusionsOur high-dimensional approach robustly characterises caecilian cranial evolution and demonstrates that caecilian crania are highly modular and that cranial modules are shaped by differential phylogenetic, allometric, and ecological effects. More broadly, and in contrast to recent studies, this work suggests that there is no simple relationship between integration and evolutionary rate or disparity.
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