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Houssaye, Alexandra
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2009 |
"Pachyostosis" in aquatic amniotes: a review.
Integrative Zoology 4: 325-340. 1 tab. 1 fig.
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Hayashi, Shoji; Houssaye, Alexandra; Nakajima, Yasuhisa; Chiba, Kentaro; Ando, Tatsuro; Sawamura, Hiroshi; Inuzuka, Norihisa; Kaneko, Naotomo; Osaki, Tomohiro
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2013 |
Bone inner structure suggests increasing aquatic adaptations in Desmostylia (Mammalia, Afrotheria).
PLoS ONE 8(4):e59146. 20 pp. 5 tabs. 13 figs. + Supplementary Information. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0059146 Apr. 2, 2013.
–ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: The paleoecology of desmostylians has been discussed controversially with a general consensus that desmostylians were aquatic or semi-aquatic to some extent. Bone microanatomy can be used as a powerful tool to infer habitat preference of extinct animals. However, bone microanatomical studies of desmostylians are extremely scarce. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We analyzed the histology and microanatomy of several desmostylians using thin-sections and CT scans of ribs, humeri, femora and vertebrae. Comparisons with extant mammals allowed us to better understand the mode of life and evolutionary history of these taxa. Desmostylian ribs and long bones generally lack a medullary cavity. This trait has been interpreted as an aquatic adaptation among amniotes. Behemotops and Paleoparadoxia show osteosclerosis (i.e. increase in bone compactness), and Ashoroa pachyosteosclerosis (i.e. combined increase in bone volume and compactness). Conversely, Desmostylus differs from these desmostylians in displaying an osteoporotic-like pattern. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: In living taxa, bone mass increase provides hydrostatic buoyancy and body trim control suitable for poorly efficient swimmers, while wholly spongy bones are associated with hydrodynamic buoyancy control in active swimmers. Our study suggests that all desmostylians had achieved an essentially, if not exclusively, aquatic lifestyle. Behemotops, Paleoparadoxia and Ashoroa are interpreted as shallow water swimmers, either hovering slowly at a preferred depth, or walking on the bottom, and Desmostylus as a more active swimmer with a peculiar habitat and feeding strategy within Desmostylia. Therefore, desmostylians are, with cetaceans, the second mammal group showing a shift from bone mass increase to a spongy inner organization of bones in their evolutionary history.
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Houssaye, Alexandra; Waskow, Katja; Hayashi, Shoji; Cornette, Raphaël; Lee, Andrew H.; Hutchinson, John R.
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2015 |
Biomechanical evolution of solid bones in large animals: a microanatomical investigation.
Biol. Jour. Linn. Soc. 117(2): 350-371. 6 tabs. 7 figs. DOI:10.111/bij.12660 Feb. 2016 (publ. online Sept. 8, 2015).
–Graviportal taxa show an allometric increase of the cross-sectional area of supportive bones and are assumed to display microanatomical changes associated with an increase in bone mass. This evokes osteosclerosis (i.e. an increase in bone compactness observed in some aquatic amniotes). The present study investigates the changes in bones' microanatomical organization associated with graviportality and how comparable they are with aquatically acquired osteosclerosis aiming to better understand the adaptation of bone to the different associated functional requirements. Bones of graviportal taxa show microanatomical changes that are not solely attributable to allometry. They display a thicker cortex and a proportionally smaller medullary cavity, with a wider transition zone between these domains. This inner cancellous structure may enable to better enhance energy absorption and marrow support. Moreover, the cross-sectional geometric parameters indicate increased resistance to stresses engendered by bending and torsion, as well as compression. Adaptation to a graviportal posture should be taken into consideration when analyzing possibly amphibious taxa with a terrestrial-like morphology. This is particularly important for palaeoecological inferences about large extinct tetrapods that might have been amphibious and, more generally, for the study of early stages of adaptation to an aquatic life in amniotes.
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Bibliography and Index of the Sirenia and Desmostylia 