The otic region of the skull of neognathous birds: on the homology and comparative morphology of some neurovascular and muscular foramina and other external skeletal structures

Title: The otic region of the skull of neognathous birds: on the homology and comparative morphology of some neurovascular and muscular foramina and other external skeletal structures

Creators: Gerald Mayr

Submitted August 14, 2019.

Accepted October 29, 2019.
Published online at www.senckenberg.de/vertebrate-zoology on November 14, 2019.

Published in print Q1/2020.

DOI: 10.26049/VZ70-1-2020-05
PDF/A 3.1 MB

Published by Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung

Date (Publication Year): 2019

Resource Type (General): TEXT

Resource Type (optional): Vertebrate Zoology, Scientific Article

Description:

Even though detailed anatomical studies of the otic region exist for some avian species, there are few comparative data for most extant higher-level clades. In the present study, the external osteology of the otic region of birds is studied in a broad taxonomic context and a focus has been put on the homology of neurovascular and muscular foramina in taxa of the Neognathae. It is detailed that this part of the skull offers significant structural variation, which is of potential phylogenetic and physiological significance. The otic region of many taxa is for the first time illustrated and some osteological features are highlighted that are not or only rarely commented on in existing accounts of the otic region. These include the foramina and osseous guiding structures for the occipital ramus of arteria ophthalmica externa, as well as the skeletal correlates of ramus palatinus and ramus hyomandibularis of nervus facialis, and the foramen for musculus columellae. In addition, different conformations of the pila otica are described and some structures of unknown significance are highlighted, which require further research.

Key words: Anatomy; Aves; cranial morphology; Neognathae; osteology.

Citation: Mayr, G. (2019). The otic region of the skull of neognathous birds: on the homology and comparative morphology of some neurovascular and muscular foramina and other external skeletal structures. Vertebrate Zoology, 70(1): 69-85. https://doi.org/10.26049/VZ70-1-2020-05