Evolution: crocodiles change skull forms (Evolution)

by David Turell , Saturday, October 09, 2021, 00:53 (928 days ago) @ David Turell

This Darwinist article calls it evolution, Really?:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/modern-crocodiles-are-evolving-rapid-rate...

"Today’s crocodiles are not holdovers that have gone unchanged since the Jurassic, but are one expression of a great, varied family that’s been around for over 235 million years. More than that, crocodiles are still evolving—and faster than they have at other times in their family’s scaly history.

"The seemingly contradictory conclusion about crocodylian evolution comes from a recent study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B by University College London anatomist Ryan Felice and colleagues. By comparing three-dimensional models to track anatomical landmarks on crocodylian skulls over time, the researchers found that modern crocodile species in Australia, southeast Asia and the Indo-Pacific are evolving quickly despite looking like semi-aquatic antiques. Modern croc species look so similar not because of conserving ancient traits, but because crocodiles are evolving the same skull shapes over and over again through time.

***

"To track how crocodile skull shapes changed through the ages, Felice and colleagues used a technique called geometric morphometrics to compare the skulls of 24 living crocodylian species and 19 of their fossil relatives. These three-dimensional models allowed researchers to look at different landmarks on the skulls—such as the placement of the eyes or the length of the snout— and track how anatomy has shifted over time and through evolutionary relationships.

***

"Digging in deeper to why crocodiles tend to repeat similar forms over time might help explain why today’s alligators, crocodiles and gharials seem so similar to each other. They are all semi-aquatic carnivores that hunt by ambush. There are no more terrestrial crocs, seagoing crocs, crocodiles with a varied toolkit of different-shaped teeth, or species like many of those that used to exist. Felice and colleagues estimate that of all the crocodile skull shapes that have existed, today’s species only represent about a third of that variety. But given the longstanding survival of these reptiles, could crocodiles someday undergo another evolutionary burst and evolve some of these lost forms again?"

Comment: Actually fascinating in that crocs and their relatives are cycling back and forth between certain parameters and forms. But to call this evolution is ridiculous. It is the same species adapting epigenetically as time and environment require. Just another example of having to interpret the constant propaganda protecting the Darwin paradigm.