Neither Williston nor Dollo: mandibular complexity from stem tetrapods to modern amphibians

Abstract

Directional trends in evolution have long captured the attention of biologists, and are particularly interesting when they reflect fundamental developmental processes that underlie morphological change. Here, we apply deep time data and a phylogenetic comparative framework to assess two fundamental “laws” – Williston’s law of phenotypic simplification and Dollo’s law of irreversibility – in the tetrapod mandible, a structure that has sustained the same primary function of feeding for nearly 400 million years. In spite of this conserved function, the tetrapod mandible has undergone numerous morphological and compositional changes during and since the initial water-to-land transition around 390Ma. To quantify these shifts, we reconstructed the compositional evolution of the mandible with 31 traits scored in 568 species from early tetrapods through to modern amphibians, thereby capturing immense developmental and ecological diversity as well as an excellent fossil record. Mandibular complexity and jaw disparity are highest at the base of the tetrapod tree and generally decrease through time, with stasis dominating over the last ∼160M years. Nonetheless, we find a lack of support for Williston’s and Dollo’s laws, with loss and gain of jaw components equally likely throughout the course of early tetrapod and amphibian evolution. Combined, our results demonstrate that evolutionary patterns of mandibular complexity are more nuanced than either Williston’s or Dollo’s laws allow. Thus, laws of simplification are too crude to capture the evolutionary processes underlying the evolution of even a functionally conserved structure through deep time.Significance StatementThe lower jaw is a key innovation in vertebrate evolution with a unifying primary function: feeding. In spite of this conserved function, the jaw is extremely diverse in shape and composition. In limbed vertebrates (tetrapods), the jaw evolves from a complex structure comprising multiple elements and high numbers of teeth towards a simpler structure comprising few elements and generally fewer teeth. Superficially, this pattern suggests support for both Williston’s and Dollo’s laws of phenotypic simplification and irreversibility, respectively. However, we find a lack of support for either law in the jaw of the earliest tetrapods and amphibians, adding to growing literature refuting overly simplified “laws” governing organismal evolution.