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Jack-of-all-trades master of all? Snake vertebrae have a generalist inner organization

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Abstract

Snakes are a very speciose group of squamates that adapted to various habitats and ecological niches. Their ecological diversity is of particular interest and functional demands associated with their various styles of locomotion are expected to result in anatomical specializations. In order to explore the potential adaptation of snakes to their environment we here analyze variation in vertebral structure at the microanatomical level in species with different locomotor adaptations. Vertebrae, being a major element of the snake body, are expected to display adaptations to the physical constraints associated with the different locomotor modes and environments. Our results revealed a rather homogenous vertebral microanatomy in contrast to what has been observed for other squamates and amniotes more generally. We here suggest that the near-absence of microanatomical specializations in snake vertebrae might be correlated to their rather homogeneous overall morphology and reduced range of morphological diversity, as compared to lizards. Thus, snakes appear to retain a generalist inner morphology that allows them to move efficiently in different environments. Only a few ecologically highly specialized taxa appear to display some microanatomical specializations that remain to be studied in greater detail.

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Acknowledgments

We warmly thank R. Lebrun (Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution, Université Montpellier 2, Montpellier, France) and the Montpellier RIO Imaging (MRI) platform for giving access to their imaging facilities, the ESRF (Grenoble, France) for providing beamtime and support, G. Daghfous (Laboratoire de Réjean DUBUC, Université de Montréal, Canada) for the realization of some scans, I. Ineich (Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France) for the loan of some specimens, and A.C. Fabre (University College London, United Kingdom) for her help with statistics. We are also thankful to three anonymous reviewers for fruitful comments that improved the manuscript , and to S. Thatje for editorial work. Al. H. acknowledges financial support from the A. v. Humboldt Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Steinmann Institut für Geologie, Paläontologie und Mineralogie, Universität Bonn, Nussallee 8, 53115, Bonn, Germany

    Alexandra Houssaye

  2. UMR 7207 du CNRS, Département Histoire de la Terre, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, 57 rue Cuvier CP-38, 75005, Paris, France

    Alexandra Houssaye

  3. UMR CNRS 7262 - SFA- Université de Poitiers, IPHEP (Institut de Paléoprimatologie, Paléontologie Humaine : Evolution et Paléoenvironnements), Bât. B 35 6 rue Michel Brunet, 86022, Poitiers Cedex, France

    Renaud Boistel

  4. Zoologisches Forschungsinstitut und Museum Alexander Koenig, Adenauerallee 160, 53113, Bonn, Germany

    Wolfgang Böhme

  5. UMR 7179 du CNRS, Département Ecologie et Gestion de la Biodiversité, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, 57 rue Cuvier, CP-55, 75005, Paris, France

    Anthony Herrel

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  1. Alexandra Houssaye
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  4. Anthony Herrel
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Correspondence to Alexandra Houssaye.

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Communicated by: Sven Thatje

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Houssaye, A., Boistel, R., Böhme, W. et al. Jack-of-all-trades master of all? Snake vertebrae have a generalist inner organization. Naturwissenschaften 100, 997–1006 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-013-1102-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-013-1102-x

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