Developmental, ecological and biological drivers of macroevolutionary trajectories of postcranial morphological diversification in bats

Bats (Chiroptera) are the second most speciose mammal group and has one of the broadest ecomorphological diversities. Laryngeal echolocation and self-powered flight were crucial evolutionary innovations, allowing bats to experience multiple adaptive radiations. Bats have also adapted to a variety of foraging niches, including quadrupedal terrestrial locomotion. One of the most striking adaptations seen in bats is the highly derived forelimb, specialised as a wing. Our understanding of the evolution of bat forelimb ecomorphology has been limited by the lack of a robust fossil record. Quantitative morphometrics, 3D virtual imaging and phylogenetic comparative methods have innovated evolutionary studies of comparative and functional morphology. The objective of my thesis was to explore the macroevolutionary trajectories of bat wing morphological diversification. Specifically, the research aimed to explore and quantify trends of variation in the morpho-biomechanical properties of the wing, as well as the developmental, ecological and biological drivers of such disparity by: 1) identifying the prenatal developmental trajectories of postcranial ossification sequence and growth, 2) quantifying differences in allometric trajectories of postcranial prenatal development between major bat lineages, 3) measuring the presence and magnitude of fluctuating asymmetry across humeral prenatal development, 4) evaluating the role of foraging and roosting behaviour in humeral morpho-biomechanical diversity found in modern bats, and 5) assessing the role that phylogeny, ecology and biology have on patterns of humeral three-dimensional shape. I found bats deviate from the general mammalian prenatal development in bones associated with flight. Prenatal allometric trajectories of postcranial development differed between bat suborders, indicating ontogeny diverged between the two lineages throughout evolution. Magnitudes of fluctuating asymmetry decreased significantly during humeral prenatal development, suggesting the canalisation of asymmetry throughout development. I uncovered decoupled patterns of humeral phenotypic variability and scaling across foraging and roosting guilds, as well as a diaphysis-epiphyses modular partition of humeral shape variation. Overall, these results suggest a mosaic trajectory of forelimb phenotypic evolution in bats in which multiple drivers (development, phylogeny, ecology and biology) interplay to shape the evolutionary success of the bat wing.

Grantor dc:publisher

UNSW, Sydney

Year dc:date

2021

Author dc:creator

• Lopez-Aguirre, Camilo

• Ecomorphology
• Chiroptera
• Evolution

Statement dc:rights

• open access
• CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
• free_to_read

Licence

• https://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
• https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/

Language dc:language

EN

Identifier

https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/22340

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:unsworks.library.unsw.edu.au:1959.4/70626