Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: LeBlanc ARH
PROVIDER: S-EPMC5838224 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
LeBlanc A R H ARH MacDougall M J MJ Haridy Y Y Scott D D Reisz R R RR
Scientific reports 20180305 1
Many lizards can drop a portion of their tail in response to an attack by a predator, a behaviour known as caudal autotomy. The capacity for intravertebral autotomy among modern reptiles suggests that it evolved in the lepidosaur branch of reptilian evolution, because no such vertebral features are known in turtles or crocodilians. Here we present the first detailed evidence of the oldest known case of caudal autotomy, found only among members of the Early Permian captorhinids, a group of ancien ...[more]