Mark's paper on nasal turbinal bones of ant-eating mammals published in The Anatomical Record

Mark Wright's Master thesis results on comparative anatomy of nasal turbinals between convergent ant-eating mammals have finally been published in The Anatomical Record (doi:10.1002/ar.25603) as part of the Special Issue: The Sensory World of Vertebrates. Mark and Lionel also contributed to a more general paper on the disparity of turbinal bones in placental mammals led by Quentin Martinez and published in the same issue.

In this study, we investigates inner rostral function among 10 species of myrmecophagous (ant- and/or termite-eating) placental mammals and 10 closely related species. We use nondestructive computed tomography scanning methods to characterize inner rostral function based on the underlying morphology of the turbinal bones in the nasal cavity. Three approaches were chosen to address this question, including the quantification of functional turbinal surface area, the quantification of functional turbinal three-dimensional complexity, and geometric morphometrics. By including non-model species from several different mammalian orders, we were able to extend the discussion surrounding turbinal homologies to comparisons across mammals. Our results show no increased olfactory function in all myrmecophagous species relative to their sister taxa, which suggests that there is no trade-off for increased olfactory capabilities in myrmecophagous species with elongated snouts. We found no evidence of convergence in turbinal morphology among all five myrmecophagous lineages. However, we found evidence of morphological convergence in the turbinals between the giant armadillo and the aardvark, suggesting a more complex interplay between the evolution of turbinal morphology and ecological correlates. While myrmecophagy alone may not be a strong enough ecological signal to overcome phylogenetic and developmental constraints, we suggest that this might be the case at the intersection of this dietary specialization with a primarily underground lifestyle where odorants may be difficult to detect.

As usual, 3D models reconstructed from CT-scans of nasal turbinals for this project have been made freely available from MorphoMuseuM (doi:10.18563/journal.m3.237).

Comparison of nasal bone turbinals between the ecologically similar giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus) and aardvark (Orycteropus afer).

Citations:

Wright M., Martinez Q., Ferreira-Cardoso S., Lebrun R., Dubourguier B., Delsuc F., Fabre P.-H.  & Hautier L. (2026). Sniffing out morphological convergence in the turbinal complex of myrmecophagous placentals. The Anatomical Record 309: 962-988. doi:10.1002/ar.25603

Wright M., Martinez Q., Ferreira-Cardoso S., Lebrun R., Dubourguier B., Delsuc F., Fabre P.-H. & Hautier L. (2024). 3D models related to the publication: Sniffing out morphological convergence in the turbinal complex of myrmecophagous placentals. MorphoMuseuM 10:  e237. doi:10.18563/journal.m3.237

Martinez Q., Wright M., Dubourguier B., Ito K., van de Kamp T., Hamann E., Zuber M., Ferreira G., Blanc R., Fabre P.-H., Hautier L. & Amson E. (2026). Disparity of turbinal bones in placental mammals. The Anatomical Record 309: 749-777. doi:10.1002/ar.25552

#Publication #Collaboration #Turbinals #Anatomy #Museum #Morphology