Book contents
- The Origin and Early Evolutionary History of Snakes
- The Systematics Association Special Volume Series
- The Origin and Early Evolutionary History of Snakes
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- Part I The Squamate and Snake Fossil Record
- Part II Palaeontology and the Marine-Origin Hypothesis
- Part III Genomic Perspectives
- Part IV Neurobiological Perspectives
- 13 Using Adaptive Traits in the Ear to Estimate Ecology of Early Snakes
- 14 A Glimpse into the Evolution of the Ophidian Brain
- 15 Eyes, Vision, and the Origins and Early Evolution of Snakes
- Part V Anatomical and Functional Morphological Perspectives
- Index
- Series page
- References
14 - A Glimpse into the Evolution of the Ophidian Brain
from Part IV - Neurobiological Perspectives
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 July 2022
Book contents
- The Origin and Early Evolutionary History of Snakes
- The Systematics Association Special Volume Series
- The Origin and Early Evolutionary History of Snakes
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- Part I The Squamate and Snake Fossil Record
- Part II Palaeontology and the Marine-Origin Hypothesis
- Part III Genomic Perspectives
- Part IV Neurobiological Perspectives
- 13 Using Adaptive Traits in the Ear to Estimate Ecology of Early Snakes
- 14 A Glimpse into the Evolution of the Ophidian Brain
- 15 Eyes, Vision, and the Origins and Early Evolution of Snakes
- Part V Anatomical and Functional Morphological Perspectives
- Index
- Series page
- References
Summary
The origin and early evolution of snakes has long been studied, but little research has focused on soft-tissue organs such as the brain. I report data from dissections and 3D reconstructions of the endocasts of diverse species, including the Cretaceous stem snake Dinilysia patagonica in order to provide a comparative evolutionary framework for the snake brain. Snakes are a special case among reptiles because the braincase almost entirely encloses the whole brain, so endocasts provide realistic representations of brain size and shape. Diversity of brain gross anatomy among snakes is remarkable, encompassing two major cerebrotypes occurring in surface-dwelling and burrowing species. The repeated acquisition of the burrowing cerebrotype in different and phylogenetically distant snake clades suggests that brain gross anatomy is surprisingly evolutionary labile in snakes. Brain gross anatomy and other features such as body size and the absence of any unequivocal osteological feature related to burrowing is interpreted as evidence that D. patagonica was surface-dwelling, and that at least some of the early history of snakes occurred above ground.
Keywords
- Type
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- The Origin and Early Evolutionary History of Snakes , pp. 294 - 315Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022
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