Using your head! Finite Element Analysis of head-first burrowing Pygopodids (Gekkota)
Using your head! Finite Element Analysis of head-first burrowing Pygopodids (Gekkota)
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用你的头！
DOI：
10.1093/icb/icaa006
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发表时间：
2020
影响因子：
2.6
通讯作者：
OLORI, JC
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
GURGIS, GP;DAZA, JD;BRENNAN, IG;HUTCHINSON, M;BAUER, AM;OLORI, JC
Pygopodids是四肢减少，小型壁虎，发现于澳大利亚和新几内亚。臀足类主要是陆生的;然而，Aprasia种类是高度fosserial和进一步小型化，在相似的生态和形态学上收敛到typhlopid蛇。此外，来自澳大利亚东部/中部和西部的失语症表现出不同的头骨形状，可能是由于在不同土壤类型中挖掘的功能需求。另一个臀足类属，Ophidiocephalus，也被描述为具有与东部失语症物种最相似的形态学的洞穴，因此在挖掘时可能会经历类似的颅压模式。pygopodids的穴居力学从来没有被研究过，但是，我们提出，机械应力是向外分布的整个扩大的鼻骨壳，而不是沿着的前，后中央柱建议为其他头第一穴居鳞状。为了测试形态差异如何与不同的功能需求相关，通过将20 N的面载荷和点载荷应用并比较到一个东部/中部和一个西部Aprasia和一个Ophidiocephalus的头骨的3D实体网格上来实施有限元分析。由此产生的应力和应变在所有类群中都很低，并且似乎均匀地分布在每个轴上;然而，Ophidiocephalus的平均应力略高于Aprasia。虽然解剖学上的分歧，每个谱系似乎已经独立收敛在一个类似的生物力学性能水平。
Pygopodids are limb-reduced, miniaturized geckos found across Australia and New Guinea. Pygopodids are mainly terrestrial; however, Aprasia species are highly fossorial and further miniaturized, converging on similar ecology and morphology to typhlopid snakes. Additionally, Aprasia from eastern/central and western Australia exhibit distinct skull shapes, possibly due to the functional demands of burrowing in different soil types. Another pygopodid genus, Ophidiocephalus, also was described as fossorial with morphology most similar to eastern Aprasia species, and thus may experience a similar pattern of cranial stress when digging. The burrowing mechanics of pygopodids have never been studied; however, we propose that mechanical stress is distributed outwardly as a shell across the expanded nasals, rather than along an anterior-posterior central column as suggested for other head-first burrowing squamates. To test how differences in morphology may be related to differing functional demands, Finite Element Analysis was implemented by applying and comparing both face loads and point loads of 20N onto 3D solid meshes of the skulls of one eastern/central and one western Aprasia, and one Ophidiocephalus. The resulting stress and strain were low in all taxa and appeared to be evenly spread out across each axis; however, Ophidiocephalus experienced slightly higher average stress than either Aprasia. Although anatomically divergent, each lineage appears to have independently converged on a similar level of biomechanical performance.