Floccular fossa size is not a reliable proxy of ecology and behaviour in vertebrates.
Floccular fossa size is not a reliable proxy of ecology and behaviour in vertebrates.
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DOI：
10.1038/s41598-017-01981-0
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发表时间：
2017-05-17
影响因子：
4.6
通讯作者：
Castanhinha R
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Ferreira-Cardoso S;Araújo R;Martins NE;Martins GG;Walsh S;Martins RMS;Kardjilov N;Manke I;Hilger A;Castanhinha R
不同脊椎动物的小脑小叶和小叶旁叶位于颅骨的耳周区域的窝中。实验证据表明，额叶整合视觉和前庭信息，控制前庭-眼反射、前庭-颈反射、平滑追踪和凝视保持。多个古神经解剖学研究已经通过测量絮状窝（FF）推断出化石脊椎动物的行为。这些研究假设FF量和行为之间存在相关性。然而，这些假设尚未得到充分检验。在这里，我们使用显微CT扫描现存的哺乳动物（47种）和鸟类（59种），以测试六种可能的形态功能之间的关联FF体积和现存动物的生态/行为特征。行为和生态学不能解释FF体积变异性在四个测试的六个变量。有两个变量具有显著的结果，需要进一步的实证检验。小脑可塑性可以解释缺乏统计学证据的假设测试。因此，FF体积的变化似乎可以更好地解释解剖和系统发育进化的限制等因素的组合，并需要进一步的实证检验。
The cerebellar floccular and parafloccular lobes are housed in fossae of the periotic region of the skull of different vertebrates. Experimental evidence indicates that the lobes integrate visual and vestibular information and control the vestibulo-ocular reflex, vestibulo-collic reflex, smooth pursuit and gaze holding. Multiple paleoneuroanatomy studies have deduced the behaviour of fossil vertebrates by measuring the floccular fossae (FF). These studies assumed that there are correlations between FF volume and behaviour. However, these assumptions have not been fully tested. Here, we used micro-CT scans of extant mammals (47 species) and birds (59 species) to test six possible morphological-functional associations between FF volume and ecological/behavioural traits of extant animals. Behaviour and ecology do not explain FF volume variability in four out of six variables tested. Two variables with significant results require further empirical testing. Cerebellum plasticity may explain the lack of statistical evidence for the hypotheses tested. Therefore, variation in FF volume seems to be better explained by a combination of factors such as anatomical and phylogenetic evolutionary constraints, and further empirical testing is required.