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The Petrosal Bone and Inner Ear of Micromeryx Flourensianus (Artiodactyla, Moschidae) and Inferred Potential for Ruminant Phylogenetics

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The Petrosal Bone and Inner Ear of Micromeryx Flourensianus (Artiodactyla, Moschidae) and Inferred Potential for Ruminant Phylogenetics Zitteliana B 32 (2014) 99 The petrosal bone and inner ear of Micromeryx flourensianus (Artiodactyla, Moschidae) and inferred potential for ruminant phylogenetics Loïc Costeur Zitteliana B 32, 99 – 114 München, 31.12.2014 Naturhistorisches Museum Basel, Augustinergasse 2, 4001 Basel, Switzerland, Manuscript received E-mail: [email protected] 26.02.2014; revision accepted 02.06.2014 ISSN 1612 - 4138 Abstract While petrosal bones have a long research history in artiodactyl phylogenetics, the inner ear embedded in this bone has rarely been in- vestigated. I describe here a set of petrosals and the associated inner ears of the Middle Miocene moschid Micromeryx flourensianus from the German locality Steinheim and compare them to the extant musk deer Moschus moschiferus (Moschidae), the four-horned antelope Tetracerus quadricornis (Bovidae) and the white-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus (Cervidae). Inner ears were reconstructed using high resolution x-ray computed tomography scans. In phylogenenetic reconstructions built on morphological and molecular data, Moschidae has variously been shown to be a sister taxon to Bovidae or Cervidae. Its position hasn’t reached a consensus yet. Studying the inner ear morphology adds new morphological characters that will help resolving this question. Micromeryx flourensianus is an abundant fossil mo- schid and I show indeed that its petrosal bone and inner ear share several similarities with that of the extant musk deer such as a ventral basicapsular groove, a well-developed anterior process of the tegmen tympani, or a fossa for the tensor tympani muscle in the musk-deer that may well have evolved from a Micromeryx-like condition. Inner ears share a thick basal cochlear whorl, a bulky vestibule, or a short and thick cochlear aqueduct. This shows that inner ears have a high potential for taxonomy and phylogenetics. Including the inner ear of a fossil skull of Micromeryx flourensianus also from Steinheim, four inner ears are described here and give insights into the morphological variability of this structure at an intraspecific level as well as into the post-natal ontogenetic changes that occur. This contribution is a first step towards a comprehensive understanding of the evolution of the ruminant inner ear. Key words: Ruminantia, Moschidae, Cervidae, Bovidae, bony labyrinth, computed tomography, phylogeny, morphology, Middle Mi- ocene. 1. Introduction Gray 1907, 1908) or extinct mammals (Hürzeler 1936; Russell 1964, Ladevèze et al. 2008; Theodor The petrosal bone of mammals has long been a 2010; Luo et al. 2011) also yield phylogenetic infor- source of phylogenetically relevant morphological mation but difficulty in accessing this embedded- information. Petrosal characters have brought com- in-bone information led to its under-usage. Recent plementary information that helped resolving phylo- studies based on high resolution x-ray computed to- genetic issues (Spaulding et al. 2009; O’Leary 2010). mography of petrosal bones indicate how powerful Studies on the origin of mammal clades in the fossil the morphology of the inner ear is to resolve taxo- record have also benefited from the abundance of nomic, phylogenetic or ecological-palaeoecological this often well preserved bone (e.g., Webb & Tay- questions (Spoor et al. 2002, 2007; Gunz et al. 2012; lor 1980; Luo & Gingerich 1999). Its compactness Alloing-Seguier et al. 2013). makes it one of the most preservable bones of the Attempts to use fossil petrosal bones in ruminant mammal skeleton and allows it to be exquisitely pre- or more broadly Artiodactyla research have been served as a fossil. Recent scientific advances have carried out successfully (e.g., Webb & Taylor 1980; made it possible not only to study the external mor- O’Leary 2010; Orliac 2012) but very few studies fo- phology of the petrosal bone but also to investigate cused on the inner ear itself (e.g., Theodor 2010 for its internal structures which are the organs of balan- Cainotherium; Orliac et al. 2012 for the oldest artio- ce and hearing, i.e., the bony labyrinth or inner ear. dactyl Diacodexis). These long-known structures in extant (Hyrtl 1845; As far as ruminants are concerned, several main Zitteliana B 32 (2014) 100 questions regarding their origin as a clade and the 2. Material and Methods origin and relationships of crown groups still have no answer and are debated (Bibi 2013). Teeth, prima- The fossil material analysed in this study comes rily used in the fossil record because of their abun- from the German Middle Miocene locality Steinhe- dance, are very convergent structures so that using im. Its fauna is very well known and is one of the them to trace back the origin of the living families reference faunas for the Middle Miocene of Europe in the primitive-looking Late Oligocene to Early Mio- (ca. 14.5 My, Groschopf & Reiff 1969). Almost all the cene ruminants seems virtually impossible. The only bones of the skeleton of the common moschid Mi- up-to-date well-accepted morphological apomor- cromeryx flourensianus are known from this locality. phies of living pecoran families are the presence of Although never published, hundreds of specimens cranial appendages that are non-homologous from a of this species are stored in the collections of the family to the other (e.g., ossicones of giraffes, horns Natural History Museum Basel. A crushed skull NMB of bovids or antlers of cervids). The absence of cra- Sth.833 and three isolated petrosals confidently at- nial appendages in moschids has thus always been tributable to M. flourensianus (NMB Sth.828a, NMB a problem. The correlated presence of large upper Sth.865, and NMB Sth. 866) are studied here. Com- canines in male musk deers, now known as a ple- parative material of extant ruminants from the family siomorphic character, has led to ascribe many early Moschidae and from its two closest living families pecorans to family Moschidae (e.g., Janis & Scott Cervidae and Bovidae is also studied. A petrosal of 1987; Gentry et al. 1999), yielding uncertainty to the Moschus moschiferus (NMB 4201), a petrosal of the calibration points of the ruminant phylogenetic tree. odocoiline cervid Odocoileus virginianus (NMB 9872) Late Oligocene-Early Miocene hornless ruminants and a petrosal of the boselaphine bovid Tetracerus are very well represented in the fossil record, often quadricornis (NMB 10472) constitute the compara- by complete to sub-complete skulls preserving the tive sample. Odocoileini and Boselaphini are here ear region. Now that non-destructive methods are chosen on availability of material. Representatives of applicable, the morphology of their petrosal bone the Boselaphini are further interesting because the and of their inner ears has been rendered accessi- tribe is considered by some authors one of the most ble. Since very few is known as to how reliable inner basal in bovids (Hernández Fernández & Vrba 2005 ears, or to a lesser extent petrosal bones, may be in but contra Hassanin et al. 2012). resolving the phylogenetic affinities of a fossil rumi- All the specimens for this work were scanned with nant, it is interesting to investigate these structures high resolution x-ray computed tomography at the in an extinct pecoran that has long been attributed Biomaterial Science Center of the University of Basel to a family with living representatives. This is the using a phoenix nanotom® (General Electric Wunstorf, case of Micromeryx flourensianus, a Miocene fossil Germany) equipped with a 180 kV / 15 W nanofocus ruminant confidently belonging to the family Moschi- x-ray source. Various scanning resolutions were em- dae, of which the extant musk deer Moschus is the ployed based on specimen sizes, densities and scan single living genus. Micromeryx was until recently measurement time: NMB Sth.833 (skull of M. flou- not known by skull material. Recent discoveries in rensianus) was scanned at a 60 µm resolution; NMB Spain revealed the structure of its skull (Sánchez & Sth.828a at 30 µm (M. flourensianus); NMB Sth.865 Morales 2008). New material, long collected in Stein- (M. flourensianus), NMB Sth.866 (M. flourensianus), heim (Middle Miocene, Germany; Heizmann & Reiff and NMB 4201 (Moschus moschiferus) at 18.5 µm; 2002) but never published, was found in the collec- NMB 10472 at 25 micrometers (Tetracerus quadri- tions of the Natural History Museum Basel (NMB). cornis) and NMB 9872 at 20 micrometers (Odocoile- A crushed but almost complete skull and three iso- us virginianus). Raw data are available upon request. lated petrosals were found and are described here. 3D reconstructions of the inner ears were achieved This material was scanned under high resolution x- using the segmentation editor of software AVIZO® ray computed tomography and the inner ears were 7.0. Difference in resolution has no impact on the digitally reconstructed. I compare this exquisite ma- reconstructions of petrosals or on the segmentation terial to the extant musk deer Moschus moschiferus of inner ears. All the extant specimens were isolated and to two other living ruminants, a capreoline cervid petrosals taken from adult skulls stored in the collec- Odocoileus virginianus and a bovine bovid Tetrace- tion of the NMB; the fossil skull is that of an adult and ros quadricornis. Moschids have a long research hi- the fossil petrosals are also most probably those of story in phylogenetics but their positioning as sister adults except NMB Sth.828a (see discussion). Figu- group to either cervids or bovids has not yet reached re 1 shows the position and orientation of a petrosal a consensus (Hassanin & Douzéry 2003; Hernández bone within the braincase. Petrosals illustrated in Fernández & Vrba 2005; Sánchez et al. 2010; Hassa- Figs 2 to 7 are the results of the 3D reconstructions nin et al. 2012; dos Reis et al. 2012; Bibi 2013). This from the DICOM slices showing surface views of the work contributes to this line of research by adding bones. Since the petrosal bone of Tetracerus quad- deep time data and by providing the first morpho- ricornis was attached inside the skull and has not logical comparison of the inner ears of several fossil been segmented, Fig.
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