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This work was partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation [PID2019-105546GB-I00].

Analysis of institutional authors

Marugan-Lobon, JCorresponding AuthorNebreda, SmAuthor

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The geometry of synapsid skull disparity

Publicated to:HISTORICAL BIOLOGY. 34 (8): 1692-1700 - 2022-01-01 34(8), DOI: 10.1080/08912963.2022.2071708

Authors: Marugan-Lobon, Jesus; Gomez-Recio, Marta; Nebreda, Sergio M.;

Affiliations

Nat Hist Museum Los Angeles Cty, Dinosaur Inst, Los Angeles, CA USA - Author
Univ Autonoma Madrid, Ctr Integrac Paleobiol CIPb UAM, Canto Blanco, Spain - Author
Univ Autonoma Madrid, Dept Biol, Unidad Paleontol, Canto Blanco 28049, Spain - Author

Abstract

ABATRACT Synapsida represents a rich lineage of tetrapods including a mixture of morphotypes, from reptilian-like 'pelycosaurs' to crown group mammals, spanning more than 325 My. Although such a morphological diversity peaked several times across three eras, little is known about the constraints underlying such evolutionary patterns. Using theoretical morphology rationales, we assessed the distribution of skull disparity by measuring three functional partitions (i.e. rostrum, orbit and braincase) in a sample encompassing most major clades of the lineage (n = 169). To broaden our macroevolutionary scope, we compared this pattern with that of the archosaurian sauropsids (Diapsida). Results show that despite being less diverse, the disparity of synapsid skulls almost doubles that of the archosaurs. The synapsids span an outstanding range of facial proportions, involving short faces (newly labelled parvirostral) and extreme shortening of the face in some primates, including humans, contributing less than 10% to skull geometry (microrostral). We also found that synapsids changed their geometric rules of skull organisation; in the Permo-Trias, the orbit and the braincase changed concomitantly, as in the diapsids, hence being more 'reptilian'. Thereafter, depleting the orbit from craniofacial variation at the transition to therian mammals, in the Mesozoic, marked an evolutionary pathway that endured throughout the Cenozoic.

Keywords

BrainConstraintDiversityEvolutionFacesMacroevolutionMammalsMolecular-interactionsMorphospaceReptiliaSizeSkullSynapsidsTheoretical morphology

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal HISTORICAL BIOLOGY due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency Scopus (SJR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2022, it was in position , thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Agricultural and Biological Sciences (Miscellaneous).

Independientemente del impacto esperado determinado por el canal de difusión, es importante destacar el impacto real observado de la propia aportación.

Según las diferentes agencias de indexación, el número de citas acumuladas por esta publicación hasta la fecha 2025-06-29:

  • Scopus: 1

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-06-29:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 14.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 14 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 33.35.
  • The number of mentions on the social network Facebook: 1 (Altmetric).
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 52 (Altmetric).
  • The number of mentions on Wikipedia: 1 (Altmetric).

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: United States of America.

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (MARUGAN LOBON, JESUS CARLOS) and Last Author (MARTINEZ NEBREDA, SERGIO).

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been MARUGAN LOBON, JESUS CARLOS.