ArticleJournal of anatomy2020
Endocast structures are reliable proxies for the sizes of corresponding regions of the brain in extant birds.
Article in Journal of anatomy, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
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21 citing papers in PubMed, 48 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comparative Anatomy Supports the Evolution of Nocturnality in the Extinct Hawaiian Ibis Apteribis.Integrative and comparative biology · 2026Article
- Ozboneviz: an Australian precedent in FAIR 3D imagery and extended biodiversity collections.Bioscience · 2025Article
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- Avian telencephalon and cerebellum volumes can be accurately estimated from digital brain endocasts.Biology letters · 2025Article
- Whence the birds: 200 years of dinosaurs, avian antecedents.Biology letters · 2025Review
- Article
- Dinosaur palaeoneurology: an evolving science.Biology letters · 2024Review
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- Brain shapes of large-bodied, flightless ratites (Aves: Palaeognathae) emerge through distinct developmental allometries.Royal Society open science · 2024Article
- Dumbbell-shaped brains of Polish crested chickens as a model system for the evolution of novel brain morphologies.Journal of anatomy · 2023Article
- The neuroanatomy and pneumaticity of Hamadasuchus (Crocodylomorpha, Peirosauridae) from the Cretaceous of Morocco and its paleoecological significance for altirostral forms.Journal of anatomy · 2023Article
- The endocast of the insular and extinct Sylviornis neocaledoniae (Aves, Galliformes), reveals insights into its sensory specializations and its twilight ecology.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Fossil basicranium clarifies the origin of the avian central nervous system and inner ear.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2022Article
- Relationship between flightlessness and brain morphology among Rallidae.Journal of anatomy · 2022Article
- Convergent evolution in dippers (Aves, Cinclidae): The only wing-propelled diving songbirds.Anatomical record (Hoboken, N.J. : 2007) · 2022Article
- Not like night and day: the nocturnal letter-winged kite does not differ from diurnal congeners in orbit or endocast morphology.Royal Society open science · 2022Article
- Endocranial asymmetry in New World monkeys: a comparative phylogenetic analysis of morphometric data.Brain structure & function · 2022Article
- Novel neuroanatomical integration and scaling define avian brain shape evolution and development.eLife · 2021Article
- Endocranial morphology of the piciformes (Aves, Coraciimorphae): Functional and ecological implications.Journal of anatomy · 2021Article
- Ontogenetic and in silico models of spatial-packing in the hypermuscular mouse skull.Journal of anatomy · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Endocasts are increasingly relied upon to examine avian brain evolution because they can be used across extant and extinct species. The endocasts of birds appear to be relatively faithful representatives of the external morphology of their brains, but it is unclear how well the size of a surface feature visible on endocasts reflects the volume of the underlying brain region. The optic lobe and the Wulst are two endocast structures that are clearly visible on the external surface of avian endocasts. As they overlie two major visual regions of the brain, the optic tectum and hyperpallium, the surface areas of the optic lobe and Wulst, respectively, are often used to infer visual abilities. To determine whether the surface area of these features reflects the volume of the underlying brain regions, we compared the surface areas of the optic lobes and Wulsts from digital endocasts with the volumes of the optic tecta and hyperpallia from the literature or measured from histological series of brains of the same species. Regression analyses revealed strong, statistically significant correlations between the volumes of the brain regions and the surface areas of the overlying endocast structures. In other words, the size of the hyperpallium and optic tectum can be reliably inferred from the surface areas of the Wulst and optic lobe, respectively. This validation opens the possibility of estimating brain-region volumes for extinct species in order to gain better insights in their visual ecology. It also emphasizes the importance of adopting a quantitative approach to the analysis of endocasts in the study of brain evolution.
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