Evolution of vision and hearing modalities in theropod dinosaurs

Abstract

Owls and nightbirds are nocturnal hunters of active prey that combine visual and hearing adaptations to overcome limits on sensory performance in low light. Such sensory innovations are unknown in nonavialan theropod dinosaurs and are poorly characterized on the line that leads to birds. We investigate morphofunctional proxies of vision and hearing in living and extinct theropods and demonstrate deep evolutionary divergences of sensory modalities. Nocturnal predation evolved early in the nonavialan lineage Alvarezsauroidea, signaled by extreme low-light vision and increases in hearing sensitivity. The Late Cretaceous alvarezsauroid Shuvuuia deserti had even further specialized hearing acuity, rivaling that of today’s barn owl. This combination of sensory adaptations evolved independently in dinosaurs long before the modern bird radiation and provides a notable example of convergence between dinosaurs and mammals.

New tools suggest a middle Jurassic origin for mammalian endothermy

“…A tenet of the original ''nocturnal bottleneck'' hypothesis [14] is the assumption that ectothermic, and therefore diurnal, dinosaurs were preying upon eutherian Mesozoic mammals. The modern interpretation of archosaur physiology undermines this (see [1] ), and niche partitioning according to orbit size [40] and scleral ring and endosseous cochlear duct of the bony labyrinth [41] suggests many terrestrial archosaurian predators, including dinosaurs, were partially or fully nocturnal. While the body of evidence points to Mesozoic mammals adopting a crepuscular, or even nocturnal, lifestyle, and potentially spending time in burrows or rock crannies, this is unlikely to have been driven solely by the need to escape archosaur predators.…”

Neurosensory anatomy of Varanopidae and its implications for early synapsid evolution

“…The length of the vestibule has been shown to provide a proxy for estimating hearing frequency sensitivity, with longer vestibules being associated with a greater sensitivity to higher frequencies (Walsh et al, 2009). Elongation of the vestibule, and thus higher‐frequency hearing sensitivity, is thought to be associated in some taxa with the evolution of active predatory behaviours, as it provides an advantage for detecting and catching prey (Choiniere et al, 2021). Similarly, a shortening of vestibule length (and thus a reduction of higher‐frequency hearing sensitivity) has been shown in some lineages that evolve herbivorous behaviours (Choiniere et al, 2021).…”

“…Elongation of the vestibule, and thus higher‐frequency hearing sensitivity, is thought to be associated in some taxa with the evolution of active predatory behaviours, as it provides an advantage for detecting and catching prey (Choiniere et al, 2021). Similarly, a shortening of vestibule length (and thus a reduction of higher‐frequency hearing sensitivity) has been shown in some lineages that evolve herbivorous behaviours (Choiniere et al, 2021).…”

“…(and thus a reduction of higher-frequency hearing sensitivity) has been shown in some lineages that evolve herbivorous behaviours (Choiniere et al, 2021).…”

Auditory and cross-modal attentional bias toward positive natural sounds: Behavioral and ERP evidence

“…Therefore, one of the purposes of the present study was to explore whether initial attention capture or subsequent disengagement was related to attentional bias toward positive information. Wang et al 10.3389/fnhum.2022.949655 Choiniere et al, 2021;Peterson et al, 2022). It might be because the available, present-day technology is better suited for studying vision than for studying other modalities, there are more research on vision than on any other sensory modality (Hutmacher, 2019).…”