Old Skull Bone Rediscovered; Same Skull Bone In Fish And Humans

 

“The interparietal was clearly discernible in specimens from the embryonic period as the skull bones were fused less strongly here,” explains Sánchez. At the same time, he sees the fact that the bone is only clearly and easily discernible in the embryonic period as the reason why previous researchers failed to recognize it: “It would seem that many anatomists have overlooked the presence of the interparietal in numerous mammalian lineages as the bone becomes fused to other skull bones during growth and is unrecognizable in adult individuals.”

Same skull bone in fish and humans

Another result that also refutes previous assumptions concerns the origin of the bone. As Koyabu reports: “Whilst it was previously assumed that the mammalian interparietal was composed of two elements, we discovered that it develops from four elements: a medial and a lateral pair.”

The tabular bones of our reptile-like ancestors and fish correspond to the lateral interparietal bones, which were overlooked until now. According to the new results, however, they have survived in mammalian lineages after all.

The results also explain the mixed evolutionary tissue origin of the interparietal complex, which had been identified in mice but could not be confirmed by conventional anatomical tests: Genetic studies have revealed that the lateral bone pair develops from the mesoderm, but the medial pair from the neural crest cells.

This present study provides a conclusive explanation for the hitherto inexplicable mixed tissue origin of the interparietal complex: It stems from the evolutionary fusion of the os interparietale to the tabular bones in mammalian lineages.

The study also yields insights into us people, as Sánchez concludes: “The evidence of the continuation of fish bones in mammals provides new insights into the origins of our own anatomy.” These anatomical discoveries were made possible thanks to a microtomographic imaging, the museum collections of rare animal embryos and the interdisciplinary collaboration between paleontology and embryology.
Literature:

Daisuke Koyabu, Wolfgang Maier, and Marcelo Sánchez-Villagra. Paleontological and developmental evidence resolve the homology and dual embryonic origin of a mammalian skull bone, the interparietal. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences PNAS. August 14, 2012. doi:10.1073/pnas.1208693109 

Contacts and sources:
Marcelo Sanchez-Villagra
University of Zurich