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Cephalometric correlates of echolocation in the chiroptera
Author(s) -
Pedersen Scott C.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
journal of morphology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.652
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1097-4687
pISSN - 0362-2525
DOI - 10.1002/jmor.1052180107
Subject(s) - rostrum , biology , skull , human echolocation , anatomy , rotation (mathematics) , orientation (vector space) , chinchilla , zoology , neuroscience , geometry , mathematics , genus
This study suggests that the evoution of head posture is bats is constrained by the demands of vocalization during echolocation. Nasalemitting microchiropteran taxa are easily identified by their characteristic rotation of the basicranium ventrally about the cervical axis, the depression of the rostrum below the basicranial axis, and by the rotation of the lateral semicircular canals so as to maintain their horizontal orientation during flighrt. The converse is true for oral‐emitting Microchiroptera. The general form of the microchiropteran skull has been canalized along two distinct evolutionary paths, respectively, towards oral‐emitting or nasal‐emitting forms. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.