Evans, Susan E;
(2016)
The Lepidosaurian Ear: Variations on a Theme.
In:
Evolution of the Vertebrate Ear. Evidence from the Fossil Record.
(pp. 245-284).
Springer Nature: Cham, Switzerland.
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Abstract
Today, Lepidosauria encompasses more than 9,000 species of lizards, snakes, and amphisbaenians (Squamata), as well as the New Zealand Tuatara, Sphenodon (Rhynchocephalia). In many lizards, an efficient tympanic middle ear and an effective inner-ear compensatory mechanism permit acute hearing across a range of frequencies. Sphenodon lacks a tympanic membrane, but this is the result of secondary loss. Fossils of stem lepidosaurs and early rhynchocephalians indicate that the ancestral lepidosaurian middle ear was tympanic, although the compensatory mechanism was probably rudimentary. Derived rhynchocephalians like Sphenodon lost the tympanic ear, possibly in association with feeding specializations, whereas squamates improved it by developing a more efficient compensatory window. However, the timing of this change is uncertain as the earliest lizard fossils are uninformative in this respect. Lizards from the Early Cretaceous onward show the derived condition. Squamates are morphologically and ecologically diverse, and some specialized lifestyles have affected ear anatomy. Among extant squamates, the only obligate marine swimmers are sea snakes, but in the Cretaceous, mosasaurs dominated the marine niche. These aquatic lizards show a middle ear morphology analogous to that of extant marine turtles (bulla-like quadrate, expanded extrastapes, loss of the tympanum?). Loss of the tympanum also occurs in squamate burrowers but in conjunction with the possession of a robust stapes with an enlarged footplate and, frequently, reduction or modification of the compensatory mechanism. Ears of this type are found in the enigmatic Cretaceous Sineoamphisbaena and in amphisbaenians from the Eocene to the present day. Where known, the ears of early snakes more closely resemble those of burrowers than swimmers.
| Type: | Book chapter |
|---|---|
| Title: | The Lepidosaurian Ear: Variations on a Theme |
| ISBN-13: | 978-3-319-46659-0 |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1007/978-3-319-46661-3_9 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46661-3_9 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences > Cell and Developmental Biology |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10173670 |
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