The avian nature of the brain and inner ear of Archaeopteryx
The avian nature of the brain and inner ear of Archaeopteryx
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DOI：
10.1038/nature02706
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发表时间：
2004-08-05
期刊：
影响因子：
64.8
通讯作者：
Rowe, TB
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Alonso, PD;Milner, AC;Rowe, TB
始祖鸟是侏罗纪晚期已知最早的飞鸟（avialan），与更基础的虚骨龙恐龙（该分支包括所有比异特龙更像鸟类的兽脚亚目恐龙）（1）表现出许多共同的原始特征，例如牙齿、长骨尾和羽状羽毛（2）。然而，始祖鸟的翅膀和尾巴上有不对称的飞羽，以及现代鸟类共有的翼羽排列。这表明它具有一定程度的动力飞行能力(3)，但迄今为止，人们对其大脑和特殊感官适应飞行的程度知之甚少。我们通过计算机断层扫描和始祖鸟伦敦标本脑壳的三维重建来研究这个问题。在这里，我们展示了脑壳的重建，从中我们获得了大脑和内耳的内铸件。这些表明始祖鸟在视觉的主导地位以及耳朵中拥有扩展的听觉和空间感觉知觉方面与现代鸟类非常相似。我们得出的结论是，始祖鸟已经获得了飞行所需的衍生神经和结构适应。扩大的前脑表明，它还发展了增强的体感整合能力，与涉及飞行能力的生活方式所需的这些特殊感官相结合(4)。
Archaeopteryx, the earliest known flying bird (avialan) from the Late Jurassic period, exhibits many shared primitive characters with more basal coelurosaurian dinosaurs ( the clade including all theropods more bird- like than Allosaurus)(1), such as teeth, a long bony tail and pinnate feathers(2). However, Archaeopteryx possessed asymmetrical flight feathers on its wings and tail, together with a wing feather arrangement shared with modern birds. This suggests some degree of powered flight capability(3) but, until now, little was understood about the extent to which its brain and special senses were adapted for flight. We investigated this problem by computed tomography scanning and three-dimensional reconstruction of the braincase of the London specimen of Archaeopteryx. Here we show the reconstruction of the braincase from which we derived endocasts of the brain and inner ear. These suggest that Archaeopteryx closely resembled modern birds in the dominance of the sense of vision and in the possession of expanded auditory and spatial sensory perception in the ear. We conclude that Archaeopteryx had acquired the derived neurological and structural adaptations necessary for flight. An enlarged forebrain suggests that it had also developed enhanced somatosensory integration with these special senses demanded by a lifestyle involving flying ability(4).