Carboniferous Lepospondyls did not Undergo Metamorphosis

Morphometric analysis of skeletal growth in the lepospondyls Microbrachis pelikani and Hyloplesion longicostatum (Tetrapoda, Lepospondyli)

Authors:

Jennifer C. Olori

Abstract:

Although morphological evidence alone appears insufficient to resolve the problem of extant amphibian ancestry, comparison of developmental processes and functional correlates of ontogenetic change may provide a basis for evaluating relationships among extinct and extant tetrapods. In the first allometric study of cranial and postcranial growth in any lepospondyl, I investigate skeletal development in the microsaurs Microbrachis pelikani and Hyloplesion longicostatum using traditional measurement-based and geometric morphometric analyses. Regression analyses against both skull and centrum lengths for M. pelikani indicate positive allometric scaling of the interclavicle plate length, pubis, and ilium, and negative scaling of the diameter of the orbit. Preliminary data for H. longicostatum support negative scaling of neural arch height and posterior centrum height. Results from geometric morphometrics suggest slight widening of the cheek in M. pelikani, rather than marked elongation. Overall, cranial and postcranial growth in both microsaurs was primarily isometric and comparison with allometric data from other Paleozoic taxa suggests that isometric growth is an ancestral feature of development in early tetrapods. All regression analyses for M. pelikani and H. longicostatum had a constant linear slope, indicating that ontogenetic trajectories were continuous, with gradual skeletal growth and no shift in feeding or locomotor function during ontogeny. The lack of morphological change suggests that these microsaurs did not undergo an extant amphibian-like metamorphosis that included reorganization of the skeleton. These data support the hypothesis that metamorphosis is a derived mode of development present only in extant amphibians and their closest relatives.