Musculoskeletal morphogenesis supports the convergent evolution of bat laryngeal echolocation.
Proc Biol Sci
; 291(2015): 20232196, 2024 Jan 31.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38290542
ABSTRACT
The order Chiroptera (bats) is the second largest group of mammals. One of the essential adaptations that have allowed bats to dominate the night skies is laryngeal echolocation, where bats emit ultrasonic pulses and listen to the returned echo to produce high-resolution 'images' of their surroundings. There are two possible scenarios for the evolutionary origin of laryngeal echolocation in bats (1) a single origin in a common ancestor followed by the secondary loss in Pteropodidae, or (2) two convergent origins in Rhinolophoidea and Yangochiroptera. Although data from palaeontological, anatomical, developmental and genomic studies of auditory apparatuses exist, they remain inconclusive concerning the evolutionary origin of bat laryngeal echolocation. Here we compared musculoskeletal morphogenesis of the larynx in several chiropteran lineages and found distinct laryngeal modifications in two echolocating lineages, rhinolophoids and yangochiropterans. Our findings support the second scenario that rhinolophoids and yangochiropterans convergently evolved advanced laryngeal echolocation through anatomical modifications of the larynx for ultrasonic sound generation and refinement of the auditory apparatuses for more detailed sound perception.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Chiroptera
/
Echolocation
/
Larynx
Type of study:
Prognostic_studies
Limits:
Animals
Language:
En
Journal:
Proc Biol Sci
Journal subject:
BIOLOGIA
Year:
2024
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Japan