Fossilized Reptile Changes Our Understanding of Reproductive Evolution by herpetologyguy

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· @herpetologyguy ·
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Fossilized Reptile Changes Our Understanding of Reproductive Evolution
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<p>https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/635A/production/_94643452_mediaitem94643451.jpg</p>
<p>Everyone who has taken elemenary school science knows that mammals, like humans, all give live birth (barring two weird exceptions); the mothers have a placenta that is used to nourish the developing offspring until birth. The term for this type of reproduction is viviparity. Many snakes and lizards are what we call ovoviviparous, that is to say that the eggs are kept within the mother's body and hatch internally, and the mother "gives birth" to the hatchlings without a shelled egg. Those animals that lay eggs to be hatched later (birds, crocodilians, some amphibians, fish, etc) are called oviparous; they have little to no embryonic development within the mother.&nbsp;</p>
<p>https://image.slidesharecdn.com/animalsunit5pdf-140112164515-phpapp02/95/animals-unit-5-pdf-3-638.jpg?cb=1488740332</p>
<p>Birds and crocodilians are both a part of a large group of animals known as Archosauromorpha, a group that has long been believed to only be capable of laying eggs to reproduce. Indeed, we have no record of any viviparous (or ovoviviparous) birds or crocodilians so this seems like a reasonable deduction. However, a new 250 million-year-old fossil discovery may throw that theory out the window, and challenge our understanding of reproductive evolution.</p>
<blockquote>&nbsp;"Egg-laying is the primitive state, seen at the base of reptiles, and in their ancestors such as amphibians and fishes." -Professor Jonathan Aitchison, Head of The University of Queensland's School of Earth and Environmental Sciences and co-author &nbsp;<a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170214130504.htm">Source</a></blockquote>
<p>http://www.dd-lib.net/ckk/1_30_2008_for_kawa/img/1233574833_323517261.jpg</p>
<p>The new fossil, found in China, is that of a long-necked marine animal called an archosauromorph. Now dubbed &nbsp;Dinocephalosaurus, these animals once flourished in the shallow seas of what is now China during the Middle Triassic Period. They were ancient predators, using their long flexible necks to snatch up fish and other small aquatic organisms. However, something about this fossil immediately excited the research team; within the animal's rib cage was a smaller skeleton that appeared strikingly similar to the creature that carried it.</p>
<blockquote>&nbsp;"We were not sure if the embryonic specimen was the mother's last lunch or its unborn baby. Upon further preparation and closer inspection, we discovered something unusual." - Jun Liu from Hefei University of Technology China <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170214130504.htm">Source</a></blockquote>
<p>The first clue was the orientation of the smaller creature; it faced forward while most consumed prey would face backwards. Predators, including the archosauromorphs, generally swallow prey head first to help it go down their throat (limbs and fins can be difficult to swallow backwards). The team was able to confirm that what they now fully believed to be an embryo was also of the same species as the larger organism, adding more evidence to the claim that this was an example of an archosaur preparing to give live birth.</p>
<p>http://www.ultimateexotics.co.za/wp-content/uploads/491588830_92e81a317a.jpg</p>
<blockquote>&nbsp;"Further evolutionary analysis revealed the first case of live birth in such a wide group containing birds, crocodilians, dinosaurs and pterosaurs among others, and pushes back evidence of reproductive biology in the group by 50 million years. Information on reproductive biology of archosauromorphs before the Jurassic Period was not available until our discovery, despite a 260 million-year history of the group." -Liu <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170214130504.htm">Source&nbsp;</a></blockquote>
<p>Suddenly, with just one lucky fossil discovery, our understanding or reproductive evolution had changed. Though no archosaurmorphs existing today give live birth, we have evidence that, at one time, at lease SOME of them did. But the discoveries didn't end there; Professor Chris Organ from Montana State University found that, in this instance, evolutionary analysis revealed that the ability to give live birth was also associated with genetic sex determination.&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote>&nbsp;"Some reptiles today, such as crocodiles, determine the sex of their offspring by the temperature inside the nest. We identified that Dinocephalosaurus, a distant ancestor of crocodiles, determined the sex of its babies genetically, like mammals and birds." -Organ <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170214130504.htm">Source</a></blockquote>
<p>https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/05/Different_case_of_temperature_dependent_sex_determination.png/220px-Different_case_of_temperature_dependent_sex_determination.png</p>
<blockquote>&nbsp;"This combination of live birth and genotypic sex determination seems to have been necessary for animals such as Dinocephalosaurus to become aquatic. It's great to see such an important step forward in our understanding of the evolution of a major group coming from a chance fossil find in a Chinese field." -Professor Mike Benton of the University of Bristol <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170214130504.htm">Source</a></blockquote>
<p>Being an air breathing reptile, a marine archosaur would have had to lay eggs on shore, like modern day sea turtles. Terrestrial eggs will surely drown when laid in the water. But Dinocephalosaurus is proof that archosaurs were able to overcome this hurdle, evolving viviparity to avoid having to leave the ocean, making them a completely marine species. Professor Benton hypothesizes that there is no fundamental reason why other archosauromorphs could not have evolved live birth like the Dinocephalosaurus.</p>
<p>http://nnimgt-a.akamaihd.net/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-feed-data/066b8bac-5c0c-4717-ae9a-dec40dc48fea.jpg/r0_0_727_410_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg</p>
<p>So in the end, why do we care? If this is about the reproductive evolution of archomorphs, what does that have to do with us? Well, to understand the evolution of our own reproduction, we have to observe the bigger picture. We need to know how and WHY different reproductive strategies arose if were are to fully understand and appreciate our own. This study, an ongoing collaboration between palaeontologists in China, the United States, the UK and Australia, provides critical insight that dives 50 million years further into the past than we knew before. But one thing is for certain: we are more like these amazing animals than many people ever realized.</p>
<p>Image Links: <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-38971504">1</a>, <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/londonbridgeschool/animals-unit-5-pdf-29936938">2</a>, <a href="http://www.dd-lib.net/sort/kobetsu.cgi?sn=1233574833_323517261">3</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ultimateexotics.co.za/feeding-non-rodent-eating-snakes/">4</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temperature-dependent_sex_determination">5</a>, <a href="http://www.beaudeserttimes.com.au/story/4469974/pregnant-dinosaur-cracks-egg-theory/?cs=6">6</a></p>
<p>Article Link: <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170214130504.htm">https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170214130504.htm</a></p>
<p>https://s25.postimg.org/c7beiusov/herpetologyguy.png</p>
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@clayboyn ·
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Interesting.  I shall start focusing on the ability to lay an egg and perhaps in future generations we can have humans hatched!
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@madiba ·
Wow, really interesting, thanks for the read.
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@positivesteem · (edited)
A great and informative science article. Thanks for sharing.
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@acwood ·
Great Article. I learned something new today!
Thanks!
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@veerall ·
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Fantastic bro.. My inspiration, my god, my idol is steve irwin, im sure you know him.. My love and respect for all types of reptiles and other animals is coz of him... followed and upvoted.. :)
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@lemouth ·
This would mean some dinosaurs have been ovoviviparous. Waw! That will definitely change or vision of evolution, at some point (maybe with a confirmation or a second independent finding?) :)
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@khushbookhushi18 ·
I wish in future we humans would evolve both as terrestrial as well as  aquatic living being on this land .  This would help humans to adapt in any kind of environment they wish to be at any particular moment. It would definitely be a great move in our human race if it actually happens in the future!!!!! :)
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