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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Nature

Early tetrapod neck mobility modelled using an extant analogue

  • Dana E. Korneisel1,2
  • Cassandra M. Donatelli3
  • Linfang Han4
  • Thomas A. Stewart5
  • Andrew L. Traynor1
  • Benjamin K. A. Otoo1
  • Marcos Martinez4
  • Tetsuto Miyashita4,6
  • Emily M. Standen4
  • Hillary C. Maddin1
6 affiliations
  1. 1Earth Sciences Department, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario Canada
  2. 2Present Address: Department of Organismal Biology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
  3. 3School of Engineering and Technology, University of Washington, Tacoma, WA USA
  4. 4Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario Canada
  5. 5Department of Biology, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA USA
  6. 6Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa, Ontario Canada
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Abstract

Tetrapods arose from lobe-finned fishes with a notochord-dominated axial column1–3. During this transition, the skull became separated from the shoulder girdle4–6, giving rise to a neck region. This head–shoulder separation has generated hypotheses suggesting that neck mobility increased during the origin of tetrapods, facilitating the ecological transition towards more terrestrial habitats4,5,7–9. However, incompletely co-ossified vertebral components10 have posed a challenge to modelling the mobility of these early tetrapod necks. Here we used material tests on the similarly configured axial columns of sturgeon to predict the capacities of the tetrapod neck region for lateral flexion, extension and rotation across the tetrapod stem. Our model indicates that the soft tissue-dominated axial column was surprisingly rigid, despite lacking co-ossified vertebral components. We estimate that most stem tetrapods could move their heads less than 6° laterally and less than 3° dorsally but could not rotate them. Notably, mobility did not shift in conjunction with the head–shoulder separation that occurred between the origin of tristichopterids (represented by Eusthenopteron) and that of more crownward stem tetrapods. Therefore, mobility in the tetrapod neck did not serve as a functional driver of head–shoulder separation. Instead, forelimb-driven locomotion, implicated in early tetrapods11–14, provides a better functional explanation for the head–shoulder separation.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{korneisel2026early,
  title = {{Early tetrapod neck mobility modelled using an extant analogue}},
  author = {Dana E. Korneisel and Cassandra M. Donatelli and Linfang Han and Thomas A. Stewart and Andrew L. Traynor and Benjamin K. A. Otoo and Marcos Martinez and Tetsuto Miyashita and Emily M. Standen and Hillary C. Maddin},
  journal = {Nature},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1038/s41586-026-11158-3},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-11158-3},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Early tetrapod neck mobility modelled using an extant analogue
AU  - Dana E. Korneisel
AU  - Cassandra M. Donatelli
AU  - Linfang Han
AU  - Thomas A. Stewart
AU  - Andrew L. Traynor
AU  - Benjamin K. A. Otoo
AU  - Marcos Martinez
AU  - Tetsuto Miyashita
AU  - Emily M. Standen
AU  - Hillary C. Maddin
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/14
JO  - Nature
DO  - 10.1038/s41586-026-11158-3
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-11158-3
AB  - Tetrapods arose from lobe-finned fishes with a notochord-dominated axial column1–3. During this transition, the skull became separated from the shoulder girdle4–6, giving rise to a neck region. This head–shoulder separation has generated hypotheses suggesting that neck mobility increased during the origin of tetrapods, facilitating the ecological transition towards more terrestrial habitats4,5,7–9. However, incompletely co-ossified vertebral components10 have posed a challenge to modelling the mobility of these early tetrapod necks. Here we used material tests on the similarly configured axial columns of sturgeon to predict the capacities of the tetrapod neck region for lateral flexion, extension and rotation across the tetrapod stem. Our model indicates that the soft tissue-dominated axial column was surprisingly rigid, despite lacking co-ossified vertebral components. We estimate that most stem tetrapods could move their heads less than 6° laterally and less than 3° dorsally but could not rotate them. Notably, mobility did not shift in conjunction with the head–shoulder separation that occurred between the origin of tristichopterids (represented by Eusthenopteron) and that of more crownward stem tetrapods. Therefore, mobility in the tetrapod neck did not serve as a functional driver of head–shoulder separation. Instead, forelimb-driven locomotion, implicated in early tetrapods11–14, provides a better functional explanation for the head–shoulder separation.
SN  - 0028-0836
SN  - 1476-4687
ER  -