ArticleNature ecology & evolution2020
Regionalization of the axial skeleton predates functional adaptation in the forerunners of mammals.
Article in Nature ecology & evolution, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 34 papers.
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34 citing papers in PubMed, 63 citations in OpenAlex.
- Evolution of the axial skeleton of early dinosaurs and the role of meristic and homeotic processes.Royal Society open science · 2026Article
- Evolution of the reptile spine reveals independent trajectories to axial skeletal complexity in amniotes.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Modularity and integration of the neural arch and vertebral centrum in primates.Anatomical record (Hoboken, N.J. : 2007) · 2026Article
- Cold- and TRPM8-dependent shaking in mammals and birds.Communications biology · 2025Article
- The Carnivoran Adaptive Landscape Reveals Trade-offs among Functional Traits in the Skull, Appendicular, and Axial Skeleton.Integrative organismal biology (Oxford, England) · 2025Article
- Late acquisition of erect hindlimb posture and function in the forerunners of therian mammals.Science advances · 2024Article
- Repatterning of mammalian backbone regionalization in cetaceans.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Origins of mammalian vertebral function revealed through digital bending experiments.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Article
- Extreme neck elongation evolved despite strong developmental constraints in bizarre Triassic reptiles-implications for neck modularity in archosaurs.Royal Society open science · 2024Article
- Running, jumping, hunting, and scavenging: Functional analysis of vertebral mobility and backbone properties in carnivorans.Journal of anatomy · 2024Article
- Volumetric versus Element-scaling Mass Estimation and Its Application to Permo-Triassic Tetrapods.Integrative organismal biology (Oxford, England) · 2024Article
- The impact of the land-to-sea transition on evolutionary integration and modularity of the pinniped backbone.Communications biology · 2023Article
- The functional significance of aberrant cervical counts in sloths: insights from automated exhaustive analysis of cervical range of motion.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Derived faunivores are the forerunners of major synapsid radiations.Nature ecology & evolution · 2023Article
- The neck as a keystone structure in avian macroevolution and mosaicism.BMC biology · 2023Article
- Truly dorsostable runners: Vertebral mobility in rhinoceroses, tapirs, and horses.Journal of anatomy · 2023Article
- Intravertebral vs. intervertebral integration and modularity in the vertebral column of mammalian carnivorans.Journal of anatomy · 2023Article
- Divergent vertebral formulae shape the evolution of axial complexity in mammals.Nature ecology & evolution · 2023Article
- Morphological and functional regionalization of trunk vertebrae as an adaptation for arboreal locomotion in chameleons.Royal Society open science · 2023Article
- Regionalization, constraints, and the ancestral ossification patterns in the vertebral column of amniotes.Scientific reports · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The evolution of semi-independent modules is hypothesized to underlie the functional diversification of serially repeating (metameric) structures. The mammal vertebral column is a classic example of a metameric structure that is both modular, with well-defined morphological regions, and functionally differentiated. How the evolution of regions is related to their functional differentiation in the forerunners of mammals remains unclear. Here we gathered morphometric and biomechanical data on the presacral vertebrae of two extant species that bracket the synapsid-mammal transition and use the relationship between form and function to predict functional differentiation in extinct non-mammalian synapsids. The origin of vertebral functional diversity does not correlate with the evolution of new regions but appears late in synapsid evolution. This decoupling of regions from functional diversity implies that an adaptive trigger is needed to exploit existing modularity. We propose that the release of axial respiratory constraints, combined with selection for novel mammalian behaviours in Late Triassic cynodonts, drove the functional divergence of pre-existing morphological regions.
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