Reconstructing extant Manta with the Bauplan of a Silurian placoderm, Qilinyu
Manta is the extant manta ray
(Figs 1, 2). It was added to the LRT early on when I was first learning about sharks and rays. The skull has few sutures, only a distinctive morphology.
Figure 1. Manta, the manta ray, anterodorsal view with new DGS colors applied here.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2024/02/manta_skull-anterodorsal588.jpg?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2024/02/manta_skull-anterodorsal588.jpg?w=584″ class=”size-full wp-image-84093″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2024/02/manta_skull-anterodorsal588.jpg” alt=”Figure 1. Manta, the manta ray, anterodorsal view with new DGS colors applied here.” width=”584″ height=”534″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2024/02/manta_skull-anterodorsal588.jpg?w=584&h=534 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2024/02/manta_skull-anterodorsal588.jpg?w=150&h=137 150w, https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2024/02/manta_skull-anterodorsal588.jpg?w=300&h=274 300w, https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2024/02/manta_skull-anterodorsal588.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />
Figure 1. Manta, the manta ray, anterodorsal view with new DGS colors applied here.
Qilinyu, the Late Silurian, basalmost placoderm,
(Figs 2, 3), was added to the LRT more recently, but still awhile ago. This taxon is so primitive it was just beginning to develop pectoral fins, pelvic fins and jaws. It is also one of the first in this lineage to separate the skull from the thorax armor.
Figure 2. Above: Qilinyu in ventral view. Below: Manta in ventral view. Colors added here.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2024/02/qilinyu-manta588.gif?w=224″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2024/02/qilinyu-manta588.gif?w=584″ class=”size-full wp-image-84094″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2024/02/qilinyu-manta588.gif” alt=”Figure 2. Above: Qilinyu in ventral view. Below: Manta in ventral view. Colors added here. ” width=”584″ height=”782″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2024/02/qilinyu-manta588.gif?w=584&h=782 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2024/02/qilinyu-manta588.gif?w=112&h=150 112w, https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2024/02/qilinyu-manta588.gif?w=224&h=300 224w, https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2024/02/qilinyu-manta588.gif 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />
Figure 2. Above: Qilinyu in ventral view. Gill apparatus from Manta added in frame 2. Below: Manta in ventral view. Colors added here. Note the transverse mandible and labial cartilages.
Until recently
these two taxa did not appear to be related to one another.
Figure 3. Late Silurian Qilinyu in three views.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2024/02/qilinyu588.jpg?w=194″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2024/02/qilinyu588.jpg?w=584″ class=”size-full wp-image-84097″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2024/02/qilinyu588.jpg” alt=”Figure 3. Late Silurian Qilinyu in three views. ” width=”584″ height=”903″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2024/02/qilinyu588.jpg?w=584&h=903 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2024/02/qilinyu588.jpg?w=97&h=150 97w, https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2024/02/qilinyu588.jpg?w=194&h=300 194w, https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2024/02/qilinyu588.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />
Figure 3. Late Silurian Qilinyu in three views. Note the transverse mandible and the morphology of the ventral nasals (pink) + lacrimals (tan). Note the displacement of the external quadrate (red) and its replacement to the in vivo position (transparent red).
Now these two taxa nest together
after rescoring in the large reptile tree (LRT, 2311 taxa). Details below.
PS
Thankfully I found a way to a add and access images again by using the ‘classic’ editor in WordPress, rather than the newer, recently corrupted block editor. Apparently (= my guess) code changes to ‘classic’ adversely affected code changes to ‘block’. Hope that gets fixed soon.
Qilinyu rostrata
(Zhu et al. 2016; Late Silurian, 419mya) nests close to jawless Arandaspis and Manta in the LRT. This small basal placoderm had a pointed rostrum and a small face with cranial armor split from the thorax armor as in placoderms. The large ‘forehead’ posterior to the eyes housed the gill basket atrium. Excurrent water exited at the new cranial-thoracic split. The ventral nostrils were likely blind pockets. The oral cavity included transverse ‘jaws’ without an anterior arc. The torso armor protected the small, nascent pectoral fins and tiny pelvic fins. Labial cartilages (= external quadrates, red) were preserved lateral to the early hyomandibulars (dark green) evidently due to taphonomy. Those labial cartilages are replaced to their in vivo positions here (Figs 2, 3) to match those in Manta and Rhinoptera.
Manta birostris
(formerly Cephalopterus manta, Bancroft 1829; up to 5.5m in length) is the extant manta ray. Traditionally a derived member of the guitarfish, skates and rays clade, Manta nests here with Qilinyu. The cephalic fins are like the lobes of cownose rays, but detached anteriorly.
Figure 4. The cownose ray, Rhinoptera, in ventral view, updated from its prior appearance.
” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2024/02/rhinoptera-ventral588.jpg?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2024/02/rhinoptera-ventral588.jpg?w=584″ class=”size-full wp-image-84100″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2024/02/rhinoptera-ventral588.jpg” alt=”Figure 4. The cownose ray, Rhinoptera, in ventral view, updated from its prior appearance. ” width=”584″ height=”454″ srcset=”https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2024/02/rhinoptera-ventral588.jpg?w=584&h=454 584w, https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2024/02/rhinoptera-ventral588.jpg?w=150&h=117 150w, https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2024/02/rhinoptera-ventral588.jpg?w=300&h=233 300w, https://pterosaurheresies.files.wordpress.com/2024/02/rhinoptera-ventral588.jpg 588w” sizes=”(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px” />
Figure 4. The cownose ray, Rhinoptera, in ventral view, updated from its prior appearance.
Rhinoptera marginata
(aka Mylobates marginata, Geoffery Saint-Hilaire 1817, Fig 4) is the Lusitanian cownose ray, a likely close relative of Manta, but with attached, but still mobile, labial cartilages not related to more gracile, more hinge-like labial cartilages in sharks and other rays. Current available data (lacking clear dorsal and lateral views) prevents adequate scoring at this time in the LRT.
This appears to be a novel hypothesis of interrelationships.
If not, please provide a citation so I can promote it here.
References
Bancroft EN 1829. On the Fish known in Jamaica as the Sea-Devil. The Zoological Journal. 4: 444–457.
Geoffery Saint-Hilaire E 1817. Poissons du Nil, de la mer Rouge et de la Méditerranée. In: Description de l’Egypte ou recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont été faites en Égypte pendant l’expedition de l’Armée français, publié par les ordres de sa Majesté-L’Empereur Napoléon le Grand. (Imprimerie Impériale). Paris. Histoire Naturelle. v. 1 (part 1). Pls. 18-27.
Rafinesque CS 1810. Caratteri di alcuni nuovi generi e nuove specie di animali e piante della sicilia, con varie osservazioni sopra i medisimi. Per le stampe di Sanfilippo: Palermo, Italy. pp. 105, 20 fold. Pl., online.
Swenson JD et al. 2018. How the Devil Ray Got Its Horns: The Evolution and Development of Cephalic Lobes in Myliobatid Stingrays (Batoidea: Myliobatidae). Front. Ecol. Evol, published online November 13, 2018; doi: 10.3389/fevo.2018.00181
White WT et al. 2018. Phylogeny of the manta and devilrays (Chondrichthyes: mobulidae), with an updated taxonomic arrangement for the family. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2018, 182, 50–75.
Zhu et al 2016. A Silurian maxillate placoderm illuminates jaw evolution. Science 354.6310:334-336.
wiki/Qilinyu
wiki/Manta
wiki/Rhinoptera
Source: https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/2024/02/06/reconstructing-extant-manta-with-the-bauplan-of-a-silurian-placoderm-qilinyu/
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