Wing bone laminarity is not an adaptation for torsional resistance in bats

PeerJ
Andrew H Lee, Erin L R Simons

Abstract

Torsional loading is a common feature of skeletal biomechanics during vertebrate flight. The importance of resisting torsional loads is best illustrated by the convergence of wing bone structure (e.g., long with thin walls) across extant bats and birds. Whether or not such a convergence occurs at the microstructural level is less clear. In volant birds, the humeri and ulnae often contain abundant laminar bony tissue in which primary circumferential vascular canals course concentrically about the long axis of the bone. These circumferential canals and the matrix surrounding them presumably function to resist the tissue-level shear stress caused by flight-induced torsion. Here, we assess whether or not laminar bone is a general adaptive feature in extant flying vertebrates using a histological analysis of bat bones. We sampled the humeri from six adult taxa representing a broad phylogenetic and body size range (6-1,000 g). Transverse thick sections were prepared from the midshaft of each humerus. Bone tissue was classified based on the predominant orientation of primary vascular canals. Our results show that humeri from bats across a wide phylogenetic and body size range do not contain any laminar bone. Instead, humeri are essent...Continue Reading

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Citations

Mar 19, 2016·Journal of Human Evolution·Shannon C McFarlinTimothy G Bromage
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Methods Mentioned

BETA
light microscopy

Software Mentioned

BoneJ
ape
R
R package “ picante
R package “ nlme
ImageJ
NIS Elements
Photoshop

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