Mammalian maxilloturbinal evolution does not reflect thermal biology

Quentin Martinez (), Jan Okrouhlík, Radim Šumbera, Mark Wright, Ricardo Araújo, Stan Braude, Thomas B. Hildebrandt, Susanne Holtze, Irina Ruf and Pierre-Henri Fabre
Additional contact information
Quentin Martinez: Université de Montpellier, Place E. Bataillon - CC 064 − 34095
Jan Okrouhlík: Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia
Radim Šumbera: Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia
Mark Wright: Université de Montpellier, Place E. Bataillon - CC 064 − 34095
Ricardo Araújo: Universidade de Lisboa
Stan Braude: Washington University
Thomas B. Hildebrandt: Leibniz-Instiute for Zoo and Wildlife Research
Susanne Holtze: Leibniz-Instiute for Zoo and Wildlife Research
Irina Ruf: Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum Frankfurt
Pierre-Henri Fabre: Université de Montpellier, Place E. Bataillon - CC 064 − 34095

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract The evolution of endothermy in vertebrates is a major research topic in recent decades that has been tackled by a myriad of research disciplines including paleontology, anatomy, physiology, evolutionary and developmental biology. The ability of most mammals to maintain a relatively constant and high body temperature is considered a key adaptation, enabling them to successfully colonize new habitats and harsh environments. It has been proposed that in mammals the anterior nasal cavity, which houses the maxilloturbinal, plays a pivotal role in body temperature maintenance, via a bony system supporting an epithelium involved in heat and moisture conservation. The presence and the relative size of the maxilloturbinal has been proposed to reflect the endothermic conditions and basal metabolic rate in extinct vertebrates. We show that there is no evidence to relate the origin of endothermy and the development of some turbinal bones by using a comprehensive dataset of µCT-derived maxilloturbinals spanning most mammalian orders. Indeed, we demonstrate that neither corrected basal metabolic rate nor body temperature significantly correlate with the relative surface area of the maxilloturbinal. Instead, we identify important variations in the relative surface area, morpho-anatomy, and complexity of the maxilloturbinal across the mammalian phylogeny and species ecology.

Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-39994-1 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-39994-1

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-39994-1

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().