Journal article
Inner ear of the coelacanth fish Latimeria has tetrapod affinities
Nature (London), Vol.327(6118), pp.153-154
1987
DOI: 10.1038/327153a0
PMID: 22567677
Abstract
Auditory reception in elasmobranchs, teleosts and amphibians may be mediated by various inner-ear sensory epithelia 1–3, including the basilar papilla, which seems to be the precursor of the cochlea in mammals. The origin of the basilar papilla remains a major unsolved problem for understanding the evolution of hearing in terrestrial vertebrates4–6. Study of living species indicates that the basilar papilla is a unique feature of tetrapods 6,7, but palaeonto-logical data indicate that this epithelium as well as a middle ear, is already present in crossopterygian fish 8–10. However, no basilar papilla has been found in the only living crossopterygian species, the coelacanth Latimeria chalumnae 11. I have re-examined the inner ear of adult and embryonic Latimeria and find a membranous specialization which resembles in structure, position and innerva-tion pattern the basilar papilla of tetrapods, in particular amniotes. No epithelium comparable to the basilar papilla was found in lungfish. I suggest that the basilar papillae of Latimeria and tetrapods are homologous and evolved only once in their common ancestor.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Inner ear of the coelacanth fish Latimeria has tetrapod affinities
- Creators
- B FRITZSCH - Univ. Bielefeld, fac. biology, Bielefeld 4800, Germany
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Nature (London), Vol.327(6118), pp.153-154
- DOI
- 10.1038/327153a0
- PMID
- 22567677
- NLM abbreviation
- Nature
- ISSN
- 0028-0836
- eISSN
- 1476-4687
- Publisher
- Nature Publishing; London
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 1987
- Academic Unit
- Iowa Neuroscience Institute; Biology; Craniofacial Anomalies Research Center
- Record Identifier
- 9984070507702771
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