Abstract
Fulmarine petrels are top predators in the Antarctic region preying mostly on squid, fish, and carrion. Their diets have been widely studied, but less is known about the role of skeletal structures in the processes they use to obtain food. Here, we comparatively describe the skulls of fulmarine petrels, namely, the Giant Petrels (Macronectes), the Southern Fulmar (Fulmarus glacialoides), and the Cape Petrel (Daption capense), emphasizing those structures associated with the muscles responsible for opening/closing the jaws. The skull is dorsoventrally flattened and the bill is hooked-tipped and elongated in the studied species, but we found significant differences for relative bill length and relative cranium depth among them. These characteristics can be related to surface seizing and streamlining for diving and pursuing/capturing prey underwater. Longer bills also indicate that the mandible muscles are more posteriorly positioned relative to the bill tip, an adaptation for a fast bite, which is more pronounced in Giant Petrels. Nevertheless, there are broad areas of origin for the mandible muscles in the fossa musculorum temporalium and in the Os palatinum, especially in Giant Petrels. We thus infer that those muscles are well developed and hypothesize that, despite the adaptation for fast movements, their jaws are still capable of a relatively powerful bite. The Giant Petrels and Cape Petrel present a similar pattern of dorsoventral flattening of the skull, an adaptation for diving in pursuit of prey. In Giant Petrels, a flattened skull with a hooked-tipped bill also facilitates their feeding behavior of inserting the bill and head into carcasses for tearing flesh. We conclude that fulmarine petrels present variable morphological characters adapted to the different feeding strategies they employ in the Antarctic and the Southern Ocean.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Janaína C. Wickert and Maurício Tavares (MUCIN), Glayson A. Bencke (MCN), and Carla S. Fontana (MCP) for allowing us to study the specimens under their care. We are also grateful to Gabriela de Souza Pinto Arnoso (UFRGS) who elaborated Fig. 5. The manuscript benefited from reviews by Carolina Acosta Hospitaleche and three anonymous reviewers and the editorial advice of Dieter Piepenburg. MSM received an undergraduate fellowship from the Programa de Iniciação Científica BIC/UFRGS. CJC is supported by a Postdoctoral fellowship from the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES).
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MSM and CJC conceived and designed research. MSM and CJC examined and described specimens. MSM photographed and measured specimens and conducted the statistical analysis. MSM and CJC wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the manuscript.
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Appendix
Specimens examined: Macronectes halli—DZ-UFRGS 001, 003, 004, 005; MUCIN 048, 050; Macronectes giganteus—DZ-UFRGS 002, 006; MCP 1622; MUCIN 047, 049; Macronectes sp.—MCN 622, 423; MCP 1518, 1486; Fulmarus glacialoides—MUCIN 0800, 0830, 0866, 0929; MCN 24, 381, 382, 464, 576; MCP 0851, 1661, 1666, 1680, 1681, 2280, 2677; and Daption capense—MUCIN 0367, 0540, 0602, 0691, 0755, 0973; MCN 384, 572; MCP 0575, 0585.
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Mazzochi, M.S., Carlos, C.J. Skull morphology of four Antarctic fulmarine petrels (Aves: Procellariiformes): insights into their feeding biology. Polar Biol 45, 191–201 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-021-02983-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-021-02983-5