Cranial Ontogeny Research Articles

Skeletal morphogenesis in the urodele skull: I. Postembryonic development in the hemidactyliini (Amphibia: Plethodontidae)

The metamorphic species Eurycea bislineata is presented as a standard for evaluating the relationship between cranial ontogeny and life history in hemidactyliine plethodontid urodeles. Past and present descriptions are combined into a comprehensive summary of postembryonic skull development for this species, and the sequence, sizes of onset, and morphogenetic pathways are documented for all major remodelling events. Developmental series are also compared intraspecifically, between two populations of E. bislineata that differ in metamorphic size, and interspecifically, with species having different larval periods (Hemidactylium scutatum, Gyrinophilus porphyriticus, Pseudotriton ruber, E. wilderae, E. longicauda guttolineata) and with epigean (E. tynerensis, E. nana, and E. neotenes) and subterranean perennibranchiates (Haideotriton wallacei and Typhlomolge rathbuni). Cranial ontogeny is largely conserved in these hemidactyliines despite their disparate life histories. Outside the dichotomy of metamorphic and perennibranchiate development, variation is limited to interspecific differences involving the nasolacrimal duct, the repeated loss of the scleral cartilage, and minor dissociation of several metamorphic and postmetamorphic remodelling events. Some, but not all, of this variation is consistent with evolutionary differences in metamorphic size and age. The comparison of metamorphic and perennibranchiate hemidactyliines reveals a unique cranial ontogeny for urodeles, characterized by the abrupt and synchronous timing of almost all postembryonic remodelling, including the nasal skeleton, and the complete absence of these events in perennibranchiate forms. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Cranial ontogeny in the direct-developing frog, Eleutherodactylus coqui (Anura: Leptodactylidae), analyzed using whole-mount immunohistochemistry.

Direct development in amphibians is an evolutionarily derived life-history mode that involves the loss of the free-living, aquatic larval stage. We examined embryos of the direct-developing anuran Eleutherodactylus coqui (Leptodactylidae) to evaluate how the biphasic pattern of cranial ontogeny of metamorphosing species has been modified in the evolution of direct development in this lineage. We employed whole-mount immunohistochemistry using a monoclonal antibody against the extracellular matrix component Type II collagen, which allows visualization of the morphology of cartilages earlier and more effectively than traditional histological procedures; these latter procedures were also used where appropriate. This represents the first time that initial chondrogenic stages of cranial development of any vertebrate have been depicted in whole-mounts. Many cranial cartilages typical of larval anurans, e.g., suprarostrals, cornua trabeculae, never form in Eleutherodactylus coqui. Consequently, many regions of the skull assume an adult, or postmetamorphic, morphology from the inception of their development. Other components, e.g., the lower jaw, jaw suspensorium, and the hyobranchial skeleton, initially assume a mid-metamorphic configuration, which is subsequently remodeled before hatching. Thirteen of the adult complement of 17 bones form in the embryo, beginning with two bones of the jaw and jaw suspensorium, the angulosplenial and squamosal. Precocious ossification of these and other jaw elements is an evolutionarily derived feature not found in metamorphosing anurans, but shared with some direct-developing caecilians. Thus, in Eleutherodactylus cranial development involves both recapitulation and repatterning of the ancestral metamorphic ontogeny.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

L'Enfant Homo 11 de Qafzeh (Israël) et son apport à la compréhension des modalités de la croissance des squelettes moustériens

The Qafzeh 11 skeleton is compared with those of neanderthalian children of the same approximate age (H.s. neanderthalensis), the Predmost VII adolescent and modern children (H.s. sapiens). The comparison is also made with the adult skeletons found at the same site. New dala on cranial ontogeny among Proto-cromagnoids are provided, along with the identification of three main types of characters : the modern (prevalent), archaic and juvenile. The combination of these characters at this ontogenetic stage (12-13 years) leads to subdivisions within the three categories whose phylogenetic meaning is specified. Qafzeh 11 has a mixture of characters, thereby giving him a special position within the Qafzeh population.