Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- 1 Phylogenies, fossils and functional genes: the evolution of echolocation in bats
- 2 Systematics and paleobiogeography of early bats
- 3 Shoulder joint and inner ear of Tachypteron franzeni, an emballonurid bat from the Middle Eocene of Messel
- 4 Evolutionary history of the Neotropical Chiroptera: the fossil record
- 5 New basal noctilionoid bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) from the Oligocene of subtropical North America
- 6 Necromantis Weithofer, 1887, large carnivorous Middle and Late Eocene bats from the French Quercy Phosphorites: new data and unresolved relationships
- 7 African Vespertilionoidea (Chiroptera) and the antiquity of Myotinae
- 8 Evolutionary and ecological correlates of population genetic structure in bats
- 9 A bird? A plane? No, it's a bat: an introduction to the biomechanics of bat flight
- 10 Toward an integrative theory on the origin of bat flight
- 11 Molecular time scale of diversification of feeding strategy and morphology in New World Leaf-Nosed Bats (Phyllostomidae): a phylogenetic perspective
- 12 Why tribosphenic? On variation and constraint in developmental dynamics of chiropteran molars*
- 13 Necromantodonty, the primitive condition of lower molars among bats
- 14 Echolocation, evo-devo and the evolution of bat crania
- 15 Vertebral fusion in bats: phylogenetic patterns and functional relationships
- 16 Early evolution of body size in bats
- Index
- Plate section
- References
14 - Echolocation, evo-devo and the evolution of bat crania
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- 1 Phylogenies, fossils and functional genes: the evolution of echolocation in bats
- 2 Systematics and paleobiogeography of early bats
- 3 Shoulder joint and inner ear of Tachypteron franzeni, an emballonurid bat from the Middle Eocene of Messel
- 4 Evolutionary history of the Neotropical Chiroptera: the fossil record
- 5 New basal noctilionoid bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) from the Oligocene of subtropical North America
- 6 Necromantis Weithofer, 1887, large carnivorous Middle and Late Eocene bats from the French Quercy Phosphorites: new data and unresolved relationships
- 7 African Vespertilionoidea (Chiroptera) and the antiquity of Myotinae
- 8 Evolutionary and ecological correlates of population genetic structure in bats
- 9 A bird? A plane? No, it's a bat: an introduction to the biomechanics of bat flight
- 10 Toward an integrative theory on the origin of bat flight
- 11 Molecular time scale of diversification of feeding strategy and morphology in New World Leaf-Nosed Bats (Phyllostomidae): a phylogenetic perspective
- 12 Why tribosphenic? On variation and constraint in developmental dynamics of chiropteran molars*
- 13 Necromantodonty, the primitive condition of lower molars among bats
- 14 Echolocation, evo-devo and the evolution of bat crania
- 15 Vertebral fusion in bats: phylogenetic patterns and functional relationships
- 16 Early evolution of body size in bats
- Index
- Plate section
- References
Summary
The geneticists are trying to make evolution fit the genes rather than to make the genes fit evolution.
(Osborn, 1932)Introduction
Despite all other cranio-dental adaptations (Covey and Greaves, 1994; Dumont and Herrel, 2003), the microchiropteran head must function as an efficient acoustical horn during echolocation. This becomes infinitely more interesting when one considers that echolocation calls are either emitted directly from the open mouth (oral emitters), or forced through the confines of the nasal passages (nasal emitters). Given that oral emission is the primitive state (Starck, 1954; Wimberger, 1991; Schneiderman, 1992), the advent of nasal emission is viewed as a complex morphological innovation that required a substantial redesign of the microchiropteran rostrum: the nasal passages must be reoriented and aligned with the direction of flight, and they must have dimensions that provide for the efficient transfer of sound (resonance) through the adult skull. Once the acoustical axis of the head is established, bats emit a remarkable array of echolocation calls that reflect a great deal of behavioral plasticity. In the following treatment, we draw examples from developmental studies and functional morphology to illustrate how evolution has solved this intriguing design problem associated with nasal emission of the echolocation call.
Terminology: operational definitions
The term echolocation has been broadly applied to the Microchiroptera and to some members of the Megachiroptera. Despite evidence that shows that Rousettus aegyptiacus is able to navigate quite well by tongue clicking (Waters and Vollratch, 2003), there is no clear neuroanatomical, dental, developmental or physiological data whatsoever suggesting that pteropodids ever had the capacity for laryngeal echolocation or were derived from bats that did echolocate. Herein, the term “echolocation” will refer only to ultrasound produced by the larynx. It is our opinion that to do otherwise will confuse the understanding of the evolution of chiropteran communication, navigational skills and neural processing, i.e., ultrasound and tongue clicking should be considered separately during taxonomic analyses.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Evolutionary History of BatsFossils, Molecules and Morphology, pp. 470 - 499Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2012
References
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