The multiple skeletal components of the skull originate asynchronously and their
developmental schedule varies across amniotes. Here we present the embryonic …

Studies of evolutionary developmental biology commonly use 'model organisms' such as
fruit flies or mice, and questions are often functional or epigenetic. Phylogenetic …

Patterns of vertebral variation across mammals have seldom been quantified, making it
difficult to test hypotheses of covariation within the axial skeleton and mechanisms behind …

Used as markers of postnatal growth closure sequences of 22 ectocranial sutures and
synchondroses were recorded in a sample of 1161 skulls belonging to 38 species from all …

Skeletogenic heterochronies have gained much attention in comparative developmental
biology. The temporal appearance of mineralized individual bones in a species–the species …

In recent years, developmental anatomy received increasing interest as a potential new
source for phylogenetic research. For skeletal development, studies mainly rely on the first …

Background Here we provide the most comprehensive study to date on the cranial
ossification sequence in Lipotyphla, the group which includes shrews, moles and …

Previous analyses of how mammals vary in their ossification sequences have focused on
monotremes, marsupials, and boreoeutherian placentals. Here, we focus on the sequence …

The recently increased interest in studies on sequence heterochrony has uncovered
developmental variation between species. However, how changes in developmental …

Background Self-powered flight is one of the most energy-intensive types of locomotion
found in vertebrates. It is also associated with a range of extreme morpho-physiological …