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Origin of the unique ventilatory apparatus of turtles

Author

Listed:
  • Tyler R. Lyson

    (Denver Museum of Nature and Science
    National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
    Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, PO Wits 2050)

  • Emma R. Schachner

    (School of Veterinary Medicine, Louisiana State University
    University of Utah)

  • Jennifer Botha-Brink

    (Karoo Palaeontology, National Museum, Box 266
    University of the Free State)

  • Torsten M. Scheyer

    (Paläontologisches Institut und Museum, Universität Zürich, Karl Schmid-Strasse 4)

  • Markus Lambertz

    (Institut für Zoologie, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Poppelsdorfer Schloss)

  • G. S. Bever

    (Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, PO Wits 2050
    New York Institute of Technology, College of Osteopathic Medicine
    American Museum of Natural History)

  • Bruce S. Rubidge

    (Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, PO Wits 2050)

  • Kevin de Queiroz

    (National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution)

Abstract

The turtle body plan differs markedly from that of other vertebrates and serves as a model system for studying structural and developmental evolution. Incorporation of the ribs into the turtle shell negates the costal movements that effect lung ventilation in other air-breathing amniotes. Instead, turtles have a unique abdominal-muscle-based ventilatory apparatus whose evolutionary origins have remained mysterious. Here we show through broadly comparative anatomical and histological analyses that an early member of the turtle stem lineage has several turtle-specific ventilation characters: rigid ribcage, inferred loss of intercostal muscles and osteological correlates of the primary expiratory muscle. Our results suggest that the ventilation mechanism of turtles evolved through a division of labour between the ribs and muscles of the trunk in which the abdominal muscles took on the primary ventilatory function, whereas the broadened ribs became the primary means of stabilizing the trunk. These changes occurred approximately 50 million years before the evolution of the fully ossified shell.

Suggested Citation

  • Tyler R. Lyson & Emma R. Schachner & Jennifer Botha-Brink & Torsten M. Scheyer & Markus Lambertz & G. S. Bever & Bruce S. Rubidge & Kevin de Queiroz, 2014. "Origin of the unique ventilatory apparatus of turtles," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 5(1), pages 1-11, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms6211
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms6211
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