Common evolutionary origin of acoustic communication in choanate vertebrates.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Level 5 by design analogy: non-human bioacoustic and phylogenetic comparative study.
PubMed 36284092 · doi:10.1038/s41467-022-33741-8
What was done
Researchers collected vocal recordings and contextual behavioral information across 53 species from four major clades (turtles, tuatara, caecilians, and lungfish) previously considered non-vocal or lacking data. They combined these primary recordings with a literature-derived dataset to conduct phylogenetic comparative analyses across 1,800 species of choanate vertebrates.
What was found
The study identified acoustic abilities across multiple clades previously considered non-vocal. Phylogenetic reconstruction across 1,800 choanate vertebrate species mapped acoustic communication as a homologous trait with an evolutionary origin dating to their last common ancestor approximately 407 million years before present. The abstract reports no other numerical metrics or confidence intervals.
Why it matters
This work provides evidence that vertebrate acoustic communication shares a single ancient evolutionary origin over 400 million years ago, challenging the prevailing view that vocal communication evolved independently multiple times across lineages.
Limits
The abstract does not provide exact acoustic parameters, sample counts per species, or statistical confidence intervals for the ancestral state reconstruction. Much of the 1,800-species dataset relies on secondary literature synthesis rather than direct standardized recordings across all lineages.
Cited by
- context Animal evolution proceeded for approximately 500 million years without verbal communication.