Patterns of ossification in southern versus northern placental mammals

Abstract

Consensus on placental mammal phylogeny is fairly recent compared to that for vertebrates as a whole. A stable phylogenetic hypothesis enables investigation into the possibility that placental clades differ from one another in terms of their development. Here, we focus on the sequence of skeletal ossification as a possible source of developmental distinctiveness in “northern” (Laurasiatheria and Euarchontoglires) versus “southern” (Afrotheria and Xenarthra) placental clades. We contribute data on cranial and postcranial ossification events during growth in Afrotheria, including elephants, hyraxes, golden moles, tenrecs, sengis, and aardvarks. We use three different techniques to quantify sequence heterochrony: continuous method, sequence-ANOVA (analysis of variance) and event-paring/Parsimov. We show that afrotherians significantly differ from other placentals by an early ossification of the orbitosphenoid and caudal vertebrae. Our analysis also suggests that both southern placental groups show a greater degree of developmental variability; however, they rarely seem to vary in the same direction, especially regarding the shifts that differ statistically. The latter observation is inconsistent with the Atlantogenata hypothesis in which afrotherians are considered as the sister clade of xenarthrans. Interestingly, ancestral nodes for Laurasiatheria and Euarchontoglires show very similar trends and our results suggest that developmental homogeneity in some ossification sequences may be restricted to northern placental mammals (Boreoeutheria).