Neurosensory anatomy and function in Seymouria
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Date
2023-03-08
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Wiley
Abstract
Seymouria is among the best‐known stem amniotes and holds an important phylogenetic position for discussions of amniote evolution. Previous work has focused primarily on the osteology of Seymouria, with recent interest turning to the application of computed tomography (CT) to study the internal features. We utilized neutron CT to reconstruct the first virtual cranial endocast and the first complete otic endocasts of Seymouria, revealing previously unrecognized details of its palaeoneuroanatomy. The brain and inner ear of Seymouria are largely plesiomorphic relative to later‐diverging crown amniotes, showing no indication of increased encephalization or braincase ossification. Our results also clarify the plesiomorphic condition for carotid artery morphology in amniotes, with Seymouria showing a similar condition to basal members of both the synapsid and sauropsid lineages. The reconstructed neuroanatomy also indicates that Seymouria did not possess any particular neuroanatomical specializations, despite the probable presence of an impedance matching hearing system. © 2023 The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium,provided the original work is properly cited.© 2023 The Authors.
Description
Keywords
Evolution, Tomography, Carotid arteries, Auditory organs, Aquatic ecosystems, Brain, Cerebrum
Citation
Bazzana-Adams, K. D., Evans, D. C., Bevitt, J. J., & Reisz, R. R. (2023). Neurosensory anatomy and function in Seymouria. Journal of Morphology, 284(5), e21577. doi:0.1002/jmor.21577