ArticleRoyal Society open science2019
Correlated evolution of neck length and leg length in birds.
Article in Royal Society open science, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed.
- A novel homeotic mutation in morphology using skeletal specimens in four breeds of Japanese indigenous chickens.Poultry science · 2026Article
- Constraint and Allometric Diversification in a Simplified Neck: Shape Evolution of the Atlas in Hyloidea (Anura).Biology · 2026Article
- Evolution of the reptile spine reveals independent trajectories to axial skeletal complexity in amniotes.Nature communications · 2026Article
- New perspectives on head and neck allometry and ecomorphology in tetrapods.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2026Review
- Review of the tetrapod skull-neck boundary: implications for the evolution of the atlas-axis complex.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2025Review
- Analysis of morphological parameters of vertebrae in domestic geese and ducks.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2025Article
- Homeotic and nonhomeotic patterns in the tetrapod vertebral formula.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Testing the form-function paradigm: body shape correlates with kinematics but not energetics in selectively-bred birds.Communications biology · 2024Article
- The neck as a keystone structure in avian macroevolution and mosaicism.BMC biology · 2023Article
- Bird clades with less complex appendicular skeletons tend to have higher species richness.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Allometry reveals trade-offs between Bergmann's and Allen's rules, and different avian adaptive strategies for thermoregulation.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Morphological Covariance and Onset of Foot Prehensility as Indicators of Integrated Evolutionary Dynamics in the Herons (Ardeidae).Integrative organismal biology (Oxford, England) · 2023Article
- A non-avian dinosaur with a streamlined body exhibits potential adaptations for swimming.Communications biology · 2022Article
- Body size, shape and ecology in tetrapods.Nature communications · 2022Article
- Modeling intervertebral articulation: The rotule à doigt mechanical joint (RAD) in birds and mammals.Journal of anatomy · 2021Article
- Correlation between wing bone microstructure and different flight styles: The case of the griffon vulture (gyps fulvus) and greater flamingo (phoenicopterus roseus).Journal of anatomy · 2021Article
- Evolutionary versatility of the avian neck.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2021Article
- Anatomy ofLife (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Article
- Gulper, ripper and scrapper: anatomy of the neck in three species of vultures.Journal of anatomy · 2020Article
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4 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Despite a diversity of about 10 000 extant species, the sophisticated avian 'body plan' has not much changed once it was achieved around 160 Ma after the origin of powered flight. All birds are bipedal having wings, a rigid trunk, a short and ossified tail, a three-segmented leg and digitigrade feet. The avian neck, however, has always been regarded as a classic example of high variability ranging from short necks in songbirds to extremely long, serpentine necks in herons. Yet, the wide array of small to very large species makes it difficult to evaluate the actual neck length. Here, we investigate the evolution of the vertebral formulae in the neck of birds and the scaling relationships between skeletal dimensions and body size. Cervical count in birds is strongly related to phylogeny, with only some specialists having an exceptional number of vertebrae in the neck. In contrast with mammals, the length of the cervical vertebral column increases as body size increases and, thus, body size does not constrain neck length in birds. Indeed, neck length scales isometrically with total leg length suggesting a correlated evolution between both modules. The strong integration between the cervical and pelvic module in birds is in contrast with the decoupling of the fore- and hindlimb module and may be the result of the loss of a functionally versatile forelimb due to the evolution of powered flight.
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