SANTINI, F.: Origin and Evolution of the Tetraodontiformes (Teleostei, Pisces), with an Analysis of the Patterns of Speciation of the Family Triacanthodidae. Fossil evidence seems to point towards an origin in shallow waters, during the upper Cretaceous, of several lineages of Acanthopterygian fishes, which now are widely distributed in deep waters. Among these groups, we […]

JONES, T.D.*; RUBEN, J.A.: Feather origins and the myth of “feathered dinosaurs” The origin of feathers has been linked to flight and/or insulation. Recent discoveries of dinosaurs with feathers or presumed feather precursors have been used to substantiate the latter hypothesis. However, analyses of the nasal passages and associated sinuses demonstrates that dinosaurs and early […]

PADIAN, K.*; HORNER, J.R.; de RICQLES, A.: Dinosaurian life history strategies: Evidence of differential growth rates from bone histology Dinosaurs, like other tetrapods, grew more quickly shortly after hatching than later in life. However, they did not grow like other non-avian reptiles, slowing their trajectory gradually in a convex arc through ontogeny. Rather, dinosaurs (especially […]

Katz, E.P.*; Hillman, S.S.: Cross-Sectional Area of the Nasal Passages of the Odontoceti. Implications for Paleophysiology In search of evidence bearing on the endothermic dinosaur hypothesis, a recent study by Ruben et al. (1996) revealed that endotherms tend to have larger nasal cross-sectional areas than ectotherms of the same mass. The reason offered for this […]

SHEIL, C.S.: Amniote Phylogeny Inferred from Morphology Phylogenetic relationships among living and fossil amniotes remain uncertain, and the topic is among the most contentious in evolutionary biology. Numerous evolutionary hypotheses supported by molecular and morphological data have been published recently. Previously, I presented results of a collaboration that combined the largest set of morphological and […]

HUTCHINSON, J.R.: 2-D quasi-static simulations of stance and gait in Tyrannosaurus and other tetrapods Could the hindlimb muscles of a massive biped such as Tyrannosaurus support the stresses of running? I report preliminary results from biomechanical computer simulations of the net muscle moments required to maintain static equilibrium during bipedal standing (with extrapolations to mid-stance […]

WELCH, A.M.: What is good about “good genes” in gray tree frogs: How is call duration linked with larval quality? Male displays traits are predictive of offspring quality in some species, although the basis of the relationship between display traits and offspring quality is not well understood. Female gray tree frogs prefer male calls of […]

QUINN, V.S.*; HEWS, D.K.: Species variation in female preference for male behavioral and morphological signaling traits Handicap and Fisherian run-away theories of sexual selection predict that male traits and female preferences for those traits have coevolved. Thus, gains or losses of male traits are coincident with female preferences for those male traits. However, sensory bias […]

PETERSON, C.C.*; HUSAK, J.: Sexual selection and dimorphism of morphology and locomotor performance I n a polygynous, territorial lizard lizard Integrative, whole-animal traits such as locomotor performance could, in theory, evolve via sexual selection. Predictions of this hypothesis include: 1) such a secondary sexual performance characteristic should be sexually dimorphic in adults, but not in […]

Croll, G.A. *; McClintock, J.B.: Sexual dimorphism, cheliped assymetry and selection pressure in , Uca spp. Left-right claw asymmetry occurs in a variety of decapod species. The asymmetries can be present in early development or arise during sexual differentiation. In Uca spp., males have a dimorphic enlargement of one of the two chelipeds. The larger […]