Journal
JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY
Volume 292, Issue 1, Pages 48-55Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/jzo.12081
Keywords
Biomechanics; feeding; evolution; allometry; heterochrony; Crocodylus porosus; Crocodylus johnsoni; Alligator mississippiensis
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Funding
- Committee for Research and Exploration of the National Geographic Society
- National Science Foundation [IOB-0623791/BIO326U-02, EAR 04418649, EAR 0959029]
- College of Arts and Sciences at FSU
- Department of Biology at UF
- Division Of Earth Sciences
- Directorate For Geosciences [0959029] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Interspecific adult bite forces for all extant crocodylian species are now known. However, how bite forces scale during ontogeny across the clade has yet to be studied. Here we test the hypotheses that extant crocodylians share positively allometric and statistically comparable developmental scaling coefficients for maximal bite-force capacity relative to body size. To do this, we measured bite forces in the Australian freshwater crocodile Crocodylus johnsoni and the Saltwater crocodile C.porosus, and determined how performance changed during ontogeny. We statistically compared these results with those for the American alligator Alligator mississippiensis using 95% prediction intervals and interpreted our findings in a phylogenetic context. We found no observable taxon-specific shifts in the intraspecific scaling of biomechanical performance. Instead, all bite-force values in our crocodylid dataset fell within the bounds of the A.mississippiensis 95% prediction intervals, suggesting similar bite-force capacity when same-sized individuals are compared. This holds true regardless of differences in developmental stage, potential adult body size, rostro-dental form, bone mineralization, cranial suturing, dietary differences or phylogenetic relatedness. These findings suggest that intraspecific bite-force scaling for crocodylians with feeding ecologies comparable with those of extant forms has likely remained evolutionarily static during their diversification.
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