ArticleCommunications biology2021
Ontogenetic origins of cranial convergence between the extinct marsupial thylacine and placental gray wolf.
Article in Communications biology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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13 citing papers in PubMed, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- Skull morphology of the extinct Tasmanian tiger suggests unique biting style.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Diverging selection on body size in specialist terrestrial mammals.Nature ecology & evolution · 2026Article
- Modelling marsupial mastication: The biomechanical bite model of the Linnaeus's mouse opossum Marmosa murina (Marsupialia, Didelphidae).Journal of anatomy · 2025Article
- Illuminating the mystery of thylacine extinction: a role for relaxed selection and gene loss.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Sonic hedgehog and fibroblast growth factor 8 regulate the evolution of amniote facial proportions.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Clade-specific forebrain cytoarchitectures of the extinct Tasmanian tiger.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- Historical RNA expression profiles from the extinct Tasmanian tiger.Genome research · 2023Article
- Patterns of ontogenetic evolution across extant marsupials reflect different allometric pathways to ecomorphological diversity.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Diversification of the ruminant skull along an evolutionary line of least resistance.Science advances · 2023Article
- Article
- A Chromosome-Scale Hybrid Genome Assembly of the Extinct Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus).Genome biology and evolution · 2022Article
- Marsupials and Multi-Omics: Establishing New Comparative Models of Neural Crest Patterning and Craniofacial Development.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2022Article
- Postnatal development in a marsupial model, the fat-tailed dunnart (Sminthopsis crassicaudata; Dasyuromorphia: Dasyuridae).Communications biology · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Phenotypic convergence, describing the independent evolution of similar characteristics, offers unique insights into how natural selection influences developmental and molecular processes to generate shared adaptations. The extinct marsupial thylacine and placental gray wolf represent one of the most extraordinary cases of convergent evolution in mammals, sharing striking cranial similarities despite 160 million years of independent evolution. We digitally reconstructed their cranial ontogeny from birth to adulthood to examine how and when convergence arises through patterns of allometry, mosaicism, modularity, and integration. We find the thylacine and wolf crania develop along nearly parallel growth trajectories, despite lineage-specific constraints and heterochrony in timing of ossification. These constraints were found to enforce distinct cranial modularity and integration patterns during development, which were unable to explain their adult convergence. Instead, we identify a developmental origin for their convergent cranial morphologies through patterns of mosaic evolution, occurring within bone groups sharing conserved embryonic tissue origins. Interestingly, these patterns are accompanied by homoplasy in gene regulatory networks associated with neural crest cells, critical for skull patterning. Together, our findings establish empirical links between adaptive phenotypic and genotypic convergence and provides a digital resource for further investigations into the developmental basis of mammalian evolution.
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