Note that Padian & Horner (2011a) considered mate recognition a s

Note that Padian & Horner (2011a) considered mate recognition a subset of species recognition, although our distinction is somewhat different. Wider questions exist for definitions of species recognition (Mendelson & Shaw, 2012) and related factors (such as ‘competitor recognition’ – Losos, 1985); here we restrict ourselves to those definitions used in the context of discussions about exaggerated structures in non-avialan dinosaurs. The sexual selection and species recognition hypotheses have been framed as alternatives (Main et al., 2005), but they are not mutually exclusive. Exaggerated structures of the sort seen in non-avialan dinosaurs can of course be multifunctional,

as they often are in extant taxa (e.g. elephant tusks, deer antlers). Hypothetically, a crest could simultaneously serve as a sexual signal and as an aid to SRT1720 nmr social cohesion, while also functioning as a threat to a predator or other heterospecific, and as a signal used to identify prospective mates in addition to a mechanical function such as

Palbociclib combat. Despite this, we would hypothesize that one function likely dominates the origins and primary selective pressure driving the evolution of a structure, even if later co-option occurs. It is undeniable that exaggerated structures would help individual dinosaurs identify conspecifics (or distinguish heterospecifics). The issue is whether species recognition (depending on its definition) was the primary mechanism driving the acquisition or maintenance of any, or all, of these

structures, or that species recognition would produce the hypothesized effects (e.g. speciation, large adornments). Our discussion here is limited to the available morphological data, although it should be noted that non-avialan dinosaurs were likely similar to extant animals and probably used multiple signals as identifiers. These could potentially have included smell, colour, behaviour, soft tissue structures or any combination thereof. Such identifiers may be considered close to ‘zero-cost’ signals (Knell & Sampson, 2011); indeed, with respect to integument, differences in scalation patterns are known for at least some sympatric dinosaurian taxa (see Bell, 2012). Padian & Horner (2011a) 上海皓元 provided two observations purported to support the species recognition hypothesis, and also put forward two accompanying tests designed to determine whether structures might have evolved under the selective pressures of a species recognition function. First, they advocated that a lack of directional evolution in the expression of an exaggerated trait argues for that trait’s role in species recognition (see also Main et al., 2005; Hieronymus et al., 2009). Second, they argued that the presence of such traits in sympatric, closely related taxa supports their role in species recognition.

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