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Rethinking the Evolution of Temporal Fenestrae in Turtles:

An Interactive Application for Comparative Anatomy & Phylogenetics

Where to do turtles come from? This question is among the oldest and most debated problems in vertebrate sys tematics. A key factor in this debate is the pattern of temporal fenestrae (openings) in the skull, which has long been central to amniote evolutionary hypotheses.

Recently, there has been robust evidence supporting turtles as having evolved within the diapsid radiation, which includes all other living reptiles and birds. This group is defined by the presence of two temporal fenestrae… but turtles are anapsid, they have NO temporal fenestrae. This requires that the anapsid skull in turtles is secondarily derived! How could that be?

‘Transitional’ fossils that support this theory were elusive until the Middle Permian reptile Eunotosaurus africanus was re-examined in 2015. Eunotosaurus exhibits features that help reconcile the gap between turtles and other reptiles, but how it does so is still misunderstood. Evolutionary thinking is vital to the life sciences, informing everything from model-based healthcare studies to agricultural practices that feed millions. And yet, even scientific thinkers in the field can succumb to intuitive biases about the evolutionary process.

The solution to communicating the Eunotosaurus findings was handled in two phases…

Phase 1: Novel Digital reconstruction

First described over a century ago but never modeled digitally until now, the Eunotosaurus skull was reconstructed in the tradition of other paleontological work. This model constitutes a scientific hypothesis about the antemortem shape of the animal, and can be used for public outreach and further scientific study.

Phase 2: didactic web application

A web-based application was designed with students in mind, using turtle evolution as a problem set for reviewing evolutionary concepts like tree-thinking. It is a valuable learning tool that can be incorporated into post-secondary biology curricula, and an accessible resource for contextualizing Eunotosaurus in the broader ‘tree of life.’

Methods

Read about the scientific and creative processes that made this project a reality.

Fossil Reconstruction

Fossils often undergo taphonomic deformation , or the distortion of their shape as a result of myriad geological, chemical, and physical forces. Think breakage, compaction, shearing, and so forth. Identifying and recording these deformations is crucial to ensuring a successful reconstruction. Every decision in the process of reconstructing the antemortem shape, called retrodeformation, of the animal hinges on the observations made at this stage.

This entailed first reading through the observations of this particular specimen, M777, in the primary literature (like Cope, 1892 and Bever et al. 2015), after which I added my own observations of the apparent distortions, as seen below.

Once identified, these deformations can be reversed using several techniques:

Mirroring & Averaging…

leverages and restores bilateral symmetry by reflecting elements across a midsagittal plane and averaging the positions of landmark features on either side.

Superior View. Mirroring and averaging of skull roof.

Repositioning…

restores broken fragments and rejoins disarticulated bones.

Right View. Repositioning of the snout to rejoin the skull roof.

Superimposition…

builds composite structures from unequally-preserved counterpart bones across the midsagittal plane.

Inferior View. Superimposition of pterygoquadrate apparatus.

Plastic Retrodeformation…

corrects distortions that occur across the entire structure without breakage. Examples include warping, bending, or torsion.

Retrodeformation of the deformed mandible (blue & green).

Extrapolation…

attempts to restore missing or highly deformed portions of a fossil using information from specimens of the same or related taxon, or by estimating the morphology from preserved parts.

Left view. Extrapolation of a bend in the pterygovomerine cascade (green) to make contact with the premaxilla.

After restoring bilateral symmetry in Maxon Cinema4D, the digital fossil was brought into Pixologic Zbrush to restore its smooth contours, fill gaps and cracks, and finish the reconstruction of its nasal region and teeth.

The Five Planes of User Experience Design

In his pivotal text, Elements of User Experience, author Jesse James Garrett organizes the fundamental principles of interactive design into a five-plane framework in the following order: Strategy, Scope, Structure, Skeleton, and Surface. Further broken into dual approaches, the development of an interactive product is constrained by its functional requirements and the information it needs to disseminate.

Each tier sets the stage for the next, with early goal-setting and planning (abstract) informing the structure and content of the final product (concrete).

In all, this workflow builds from a conceptual foundation to increasingly specific functional and sensory design work.

Strategy

This encompasses the overall objective of the application, incorporating user needs and the creator’s goals for the final product.

Research done to identify user pain points and needs.

Concept mapping for the information goals of the project.

Scope

This encompasses the functions, features, and content that will deliver on the project’s strategic goals, defined through enabling objectives. This is also where user personas can be used to generate empathy for the user base and segment it through defined archetypes.

Enabling Objectives table are used to help define potential functions and features.

User personas create tangible representatives for the user base.

Structure

This determines how the functions and features are organized, also called the information architecture, and defined through interaction design. This is often represented in a flowchart.

Simplified graphical flowchart of the application’s information architecture.

Skeleton

This plane is a concrete expression of the more abstract structural concerns. It takes the form of protortypes designed to facilitate understanding, define key user interface elements, and arrange navigational components.

Higher-fidelity prototypes and navigational mockups.

Surface

Overlying all the other planes, this is where visual design elements tie the entire conceptual framework into a functional end-user experience. Style guides often help in keeping consistency and brand recognition in this phase.

Style guide used to keep graphic elements consistent.

See a screen recording of the results of this first phase of development HERE.

Presentation

Let’s collaborate.

I can’t wait to create something great together!
Message gaby@riverabiovisuals.com to get started.

Services.

Illustration Interactive Design User Interface Design 2D/3D Animation Information Graphics Editorial Design

Let’s collaborate.

I can’t wait to create something great together!
Message gaby@riverabiovisuals.com to get started.