Comparative hindlimb myology of foot-propelled swimming birds

Journal of Anatomy
Glenna T CliftonAndrew A Biewener

Abstract

Several groups of birds have convergently evolved the ability to swim using their feet despite facing trade-offs with walking. However, swimming relative to terrestrial performance varies across these groups. Highly specialized divers, such as loons and grebes, excel at swimming underwater but struggle to stand on land, whereas species that primarily swim on the water surface, such as Mallards, retain the ability to move terrestrially. The identification of skeletal features associated with a swimming style and conserved across independent groups suggests that the hindlimb of foot-propelled swimming birds has adapted to suit the physical challenges of producing propulsive forces underwater. But in addition to skeletal features, how do hindlimb muscles reflect swimming ability and mode? This paper presents the first comparative myology analysis associated with foot-based swimming. Our detailed dissections of 35 specimens representing eight species reveal trends in hindlimb muscle size and attachment location across four independent lineages of extant swimming birds. We expand upon our dissections by compiling data from historical texts and provide a key to any outdated muscle nomenclature used in these sources. Our results show ...Continue Reading

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Citations

Aug 22, 2018·The Journal of Experimental Biology·Glenna T Clifton, Andrew A Biewener
Feb 14, 2020·Journal of Morphology·Gastón E Lo CocoMariana B J Picasso
Jun 27, 2020·The Journal of Experimental Biology·Kari R Taylor-Burt, Andrew A Biewener
Feb 25, 2021·The Anatomical Record : Advances in Integrative Anatomy and Evolutionary Biology·Lin WangZihui Zhang

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