Skeletal morphogenesis in the urodele skull: I. Postembryonic development in the hemidactyliini (Amphibia:...

The metamorphic species Eurycea bislineata is presented as a standard for evaluating the relationship between cranial ontogeny and life history in hemidactyliine plethodontid urodeles. Past and present descriptions are combined into a comprehensive summary of postembryonic skull development for this species, and the sequence, sizes of onset, and morphogenetic pathways are documented for all major remodelling events. Developmental series are also compared intraspecifically, between two populations of E. bislineata that differ in metamorphic size, and interspecifically, with species having different larval periods (Hemidactylium scutatum, Gyrinophilus porphyriticus, Pseudotriton ruber, E. wilderae, E. longicauda guttolineata) and with epigean (E. tynerensis, E. nana, and E. neotenes) and subterranean perennibranchiates (Haideotriton wallacei and Typhlomolge rathbuni). Cranial ontogeny is largely conserved in these hemidactyliines despite their disparate life histories. Outside the dichotomy of metamorphic and perennibranchiate development, variation is limited to interspecific differences involving the nasolacrimal duct, the repeated loss of the scleral cartilage, and minor dissociation of several metamorphic and postmetamorphic remodelling events. Some, but not all, of this variation is consistent with evolutionary differences in metamorphic size and age. The comparison of metamorphic and perennibranchiate hemidactyliines reveals a unique cranial ontogeny for urodeles, characterized by the abrupt and synchronous timing of almost all postembryonic remodelling, including the nasal skeleton, and the complete absence of these events in perennibranchiate forms. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.