Musculoskeletal modeling of sprawling and parasagittal forelimbs provides insight into synapsid postural transition

RJ Brocklehurst, P Fahn-Lai, S Regnault, SE Pierce - Iscience, 2022‏ - cell.com
The sprawling–parasagittal postural shift was a major transition during synapsid evolution,
underpinned by reorganization of the forelimb, and considered key to mammalian ecological …

Mammalian forelimb evolution is driven by uneven proximal-to-distal morphological diversity

PS Rothier, AC Fabre, J Clavel, RBJ Benson, A Herrel - Elife, 2023‏ - elifesciences.org
Vertebrate limb morphology often reflects the environment due to variation in locomotor
requirements. However, proximal and distal limb segments may evolve differently from one …

The fossil record of appendicular muscle evolution in Synapsida on the line to mammals: Part I—Forelimb

PJ Bishop, SE Pierce - The Anatomical Record, 2024‏ - Wiley Online Library
This paper is the first in a two‐part series that charts the evolution of appendicular
musculature along the mammalian stem lineage, drawing upon the exceptional fossil record …

Knuckle-walking in Sahelanthropus? Locomotor inferences from the ulnae of fossil hominins and other hominoids

MR Meyer, JP Jung, JK Spear, IF Araiza… - Journal of Human …, 2023‏ - Elsevier
Because the ulna supports and transmits forces during movement, its morphology can signal
aspects of functional adaptation. To test whether, like extant apes, some hominins habitually …

Early origins of divergent patterns of morphological evolution on the mammal and reptile stem-lineages

N Brocklehurst, DP Ford, RBJ Benson - Systematic Biology, 2022‏ - academic.oup.com
The origin of amniotes 320 million years ago signaled independence from water in
vertebrates and was closely followed by divergences within the mammal and reptile stem …

X-ray microcomputed and synchrotron tomographic analysis of the basicranial axis of emydopoid dicynodonts: implications for fossoriality and phylogeny

Z Macungo, J Benoit, V Fernandez… - Zoological Journal of …, 2023‏ - academic.oup.com
Emydopoidea is one of the major dicynodont subclades and includes some purported
fossorial taxa. Various cranial and postcranial adaptations for fossoriality have long been …

Trait-based paleontological niche prediction recovers extinct ecological breadth of the earliest specialized ant predators

C Sosiak, T Janovitz, V Perrichot… - The American …, 2023‏ - journals.uchicago.edu
Paleoecological estimation is fundamental to the reconstruction of evolutionary and
environmental histories. The ant fossil record preserves a range of species in three …

Derived faunivores are the forerunners of major synapsid radiations

SM Hellert, DM Grossnickle, GT Lloyd… - Nature Ecology & …, 2023‏ - nature.com
Evolutionary radiations generate most of Earth's biodiversity, but are there common
ecomorphological traits among the progenitors of radiations? In Synapsida (the mammalian …

Predatory synapsid ecomorphology signals growing dynamism of late Palaeozoic terrestrial ecosystems

SA Singh, A Elsler, TL Stubbs, EJ Rayfield… - Communications …, 2024‏ - nature.com
Terrestrial ecosystems evolved substantially through the Palaeozoic, especially the
Permian, gaining much new complexity, especially among predators. Key among these …

Evolutionary assembly and disassembly of the mammalian sternum

AE Brent, EA Buchholtz, JH Mansfield - Current Biology, 2023‏ - cell.com
Evolutionary transitions are frequently associated with novel anatomical structures, 1 but the
origins of the structures themselves are often poorly known. We use developmental, genetic …