Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California, United States of America.
Department of Behavioral & Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
PLoS Biol. 2020 Aug 11;18(8):e3000764. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000764. eCollection 2020 Aug.
Tissue vibrations in the larynx produce most sounds that comprise vocal communication in mammals. Larynx morphology is thus predicted to be a key target for selection, particularly in species with highly developed vocal communication systems. Here, we present a novel database of digitally modeled scanned larynges from 55 different mammalian species, representing a wide range of body sizes in the primate and carnivoran orders. Using phylogenetic comparative methods, we demonstrate that the primate larynx has evolved more rapidly than the carnivoran larynx, resulting in a pattern of larger size and increased deviation from expected allometry with body size. These results imply fundamental differences between primates and carnivorans in the balance of selective forces that constrain larynx size and highlight an evolutionary flexibility in primates that may help explain why we have developed complex and diverse uses of the vocal organ for communication.
喉部组织的振动产生了哺乳动物进行声音交流的大部分声音。因此，喉形态预计将是选择的关键目标，尤其是在具有高度发达的声音交流系统的物种中。在这里，我们提供了一个来自 55 种不同哺乳动物物种的数字化扫描喉模型的新数据库，代表了灵长目和食肉目动物中广泛的体型范围。使用系统发育比较方法，我们证明了灵长类动物的喉比食肉动物的喉进化得更快，导致其尺寸更大，与身体尺寸的预期比例偏离程度增加。这些结果表明，灵长类动物和食肉动物之间在限制喉大小的选择压力平衡方面存在根本差异，并突出了灵长类动物在进化上的灵活性，这可能有助于解释为什么我们发展出了对声音器官进行复杂和多样化的交流用途。
