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The Lepidosaurian Ear: Variations on a Theme

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Evolution of the Vertebrate Ear

Part of the book series: Springer Handbook of Auditory Research ((SHAR,volume 59))

Abstract

Today, Lepidosauria encompasses more than 9,000 species of lizards, snakes, and amphisbaenians (Squamata), as well as the New Zealand Tuatara, Sphenodon (Rhynchocephalia). In many lizards, an efficient tympanic middle ear and an effective inner-ear compensatory mechanism permit acute hearing across a range of frequencies. Sphenodon lacks a tympanic membrane, but this is the result of secondary loss. Fossils of stem lepidosaurs and early rhynchocephalians indicate that the ancestral lepidosaurian middle ear was tympanic, although the compensatory mechanism was probably rudimentary. Derived rhynchocephalians like Sphenodon lost the tympanic ear, possibly in association with feeding specializations, whereas squamates improved it by developing a more efficient compensatory window. However, the timing of this change is uncertain as the earliest lizard fossils are uninformative in this respect. Lizards from the Early Cretaceous onward show the derived condition. Squamates are morphologically and ecologically diverse, and some specialized lifestyles have affected ear anatomy. Among extant squamates, the only obligate marine swimmers are sea snakes, but in the Cretaceous, mosasaurs dominated the marine niche. These aquatic lizards show a middle ear morphology analogous to that of extant marine turtles (bulla-like quadrate, expanded extrastapes, loss of the tympanum?). Loss of the tympanum also occurs in squamate burrowers but in conjunction with the possession of a robust stapes with an enlarged footplate and, frequently, reduction or modification of the compensatory mechanism. Ears of this type are found in the enigmatic Cretaceous Sineoamphisbaena and in amphisbaenians from the Eocene to the present day. Where known, the ears of early snakes more closely resemble those of burrowers than swimmers.

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Abbreviations

aam:

anterior ampulla

aLRST:

apertura lateralis recessus scalae tympani

aMRST:

apertura medialis recessus scalae tympani

ar:

acoustic recess (entry of CN VIII, nerve foramina)

art.s:

articular surface

asc:

anterior semicircular canal

as.ip:

articular region of internal process

Bo:

basioccipital

CCF:

crista circumfenestralis

Cd:

cochlear duct

cEs:

contact surface on stapedial shaft for extrastapes

cif:

crista interfenestralis

CN 8:

vestibulo-acoustic cranial nerve (VIII)

CN 9:

glossopharyngeal cranial nerve (IX)

CN 10:

vagus cranial nerve (X)

cp:

crista prootica

ctb:

crista tuberalis

Cw:

compensatory window

Ed:

endolymphatic duct

En:

endolymphatic sac

Eo:

exoccipital

Es:

extrastapes

f5:

foramen for CN V

f8:

foramen for CN VIII

f9:

foramen for glossopharyngeal nerve CN IX

f En:

foramen for endolymphatic duct

FP:

footplate of stapes

fV:

fenestra vestibuli

ham:

horizontal ampulla

hsc:

horizontal semicircular canal

ip:

internal process

isp:

infrastapedial process

Jr:

jugular recess

JSF:

juxtastapedial fossa

la:

lagena

Mf:

Metotic fissure

Mx:

maxilla

occ:

osseus common crus

O.cp:

otic capsule

orb:

orbit

pam:

posterior ampulla

Pc:

periotic cistern

Pd:

periotic duct

Pf:

periotic foramen

Ppr:

paroccipital process of opisthotic

Pro:

prootic

Ps:

periotic sac

psc:

posterior semicircular canal

pt.ip:

pit for process internus

Qu:

quadrate

Qu.co:

quadrate conch

Qu.tc:

quadrate tympanic crest

Ra:

retroarticular process of jaw

rm:

rim around stapedial footplate

RST:

recessus scalae tympani

So:

supraoccipital

Sp:

sphenoid

ssp:

suprastapedial process

St:

stapes

Stm:

meatus for stapes

Sts:

stapedial shaft

stt:

statolith (=otolith)

Tm:

tympanic membrane

Va:

vestibular apparatus

Vc:

vestibular chamber

vf:

vagus foramen

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Acknowledgements

Thanks to Jenny Clack for the invitation to participate in this project; to Hilary Maddin for the advanced copy of Cuthbertson et al. on the ear and braincase of the mosasaur Plioplatecarpus; to the libraries of UCL and the Zoological Society of London for access to literature; and to James Turbett and Liping Dong for many hours of interesting discussions on squamate inner ears and for the HRXCT scan images of braincases and inner ears. Thanks also to colleagues who kindly provided original photographs/scan images of Sineoamphisbaena hexatabularis (Yuan Wang and Liping Dong, IVPP, Beijing, China); Rhineura hatcherii (Jessica Maisano, University of Texas, Austin, USA); Tylosaurus and Platecarpus (Mike Everhart, Sternberg Museum, Kansas, USA); and Dinilysia patagonica (Hussam Zaher, Museu de Zoologia, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil). Jenny Clack and Art Popper provided helpful feedback on an earlier draft.

Compliance with Ethics Requirements Susan E. Evans had no conflicts of interest.

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  1. Department of Cell and Developmental Biology (Anatomy Building), University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK

    Susan E. Evans

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  1. University Museum of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

    Jennifer A. Clack

  2. Marine Biological Laboratory , Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA

    Richard R Fay

  3. Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA

    Arthur N. Popper

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Evans, S.E. (2016). The Lepidosaurian Ear: Variations on a Theme. In: Clack, J., Fay, R., Popper, A. (eds) Evolution of the Vertebrate Ear . Springer Handbook of Auditory Research, vol 59. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46661-3_9

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