Premium
Evolution of the respiratory system in Testudines: anatomy and phylogeny
Author(s) -
Schachner Emm R,
Lyson Tyler R,
Farmer CG
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.27.1_supplement.79.1
Subject(s) - biology , anatomy , gross anatomy , carapace , phylogenetics , lung , phylogenetic tree , morphology (biology) , comparative anatomy , zoology , evolutionary biology , medicine , gene , biochemistry , crustacean
The lung is among the most morphologically diverse vertebrate organs, but the underpinnings (e.g., environmental, phylogenetic etc.) of this diversity are not well understood. We analyzed the pulmonary anatomy of a phylogenetically broad range of morphologically diverse turtles that occupy a wide range of habitats to determine the factor(s) that influence pulmonary anatomy. The anatomy of the primary secondary, and tertiary pulmonary bronchi were visualized as 3D surface models using medical grade computed tomography (CT). Preliminary results indicate that certain aspects of lung anatomy are correlated with carapace morphology and thus ecomorph including: 1) the number of lateral secondary bronchi, 2) presence/absence of ventrally projecting sac‐like secondary bronchi, and 3) the morphology of the tertiary bronchi. This suggests that lung evolution in turtles was influenced by environmental as well as genetic factors. These data also demonstrate that certain aspects of lung anatomy are not reliable phylogenetic characters until the relationship between the respiratory system and the environment in sauropsids is resolved. Grant Funding Source : National Science Foundation, American Association of Anatomists