The evolutionary radiation of birds has produced incredible morphological variation, including a huge range of skull form and function. Investigating how this variation arose with respect to non-avian dinosaurs is key to understanding how birds achieved their remarkable success after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. Using a high-dimensional geometric morphometric approach, Felice et al. quantified the shape of the skull in unprecedented detail across 354 extant and 37 extinct avian and non-avian dinosaurs. Comparative analyses reveal fundamental differences in how skull shape evolved in birds and non-avian dinosaurs. The authors find that the overall skull shape evolved faster in non-avian dinosaurs than in birds across all regions of the cranium. Taken together, the remarkable cranial shape diversity in birds was not a product of accelerated evolution from their non-avian relatives, despite their frequent portrayal as an icon of adaptive radiations. The image shows 3D digital models of the skulls of a selection of avian and non-avian dinosaurs. Clockwise from center top: Outer circle: Anhinga anhinga, Pandion haliaetus, Triceratops horridus, Probosciger aterrimus, Diplodocus carnegii. Inner circle: Allosaurus fragilis, Anser anser.
Image Credit: Ryan N. Felice
Perspectives
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Community Page
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Research Articles
Estimating the risk of species interaction loss in mutualistic communities
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Decelerated dinosaur skull evolution with the origin of birds
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Rapid evolution of the primate larynx?
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Glycan cross-feeding supports mutualism between Fusobacterium and the vaginal microbiota
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Chemogenetic attenuation of neuronal activity in the entorhinal cortex reduces Aβ and tau pathology in the hippocampus
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Strigolactone signaling regulates specialized metabolism in tobacco stems and interactions with stem-feeding herbivores
PLOS Biology: published August 18, 2020 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000830
Combining antibiotics with antivirulence compounds can have synergistic effects and reverse selection for antibiotic resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa
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Short Reports
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Methods and Resources
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