Biology subjects

Cerrito, P.

Publications and source records attributed to Cerrito, P..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

The phylogenetic signal in primate ontogenies, with special attention to dental development

Comparative studies in evolutionary biology must account for trait non-independence arising from shared ancestry. While the phylogenetic signal of adult traits has been extensively studied, little is known about how conserved developmental trajectories are across species. Here, I quantify the phylogenetic signal (K) in the ontogeny of 35 traits across 157 primate species, spanning motor, cognitive, life-history, and dental development. Using Blombergs K statistic and a species-level mammalian phylogeny, I test two predictions: (i) that morphological (dental) traits exhibit the strongest phylogenetic signal, and (ii) that earlier-developing traits are more conserved. Results show that life-history traits are the most phylogenetically labile, while dental development is the most conserved (K = 0.7-2.6), with the eruption of the mandibular canine showing the highest signal (K = 2.6). Contrary to expectations, later-developing traits, particularly permanent teeth, display stronger phylogenetic conservation than earlier-developing deciduous teeth. These findings suggest that even within a single developmental system, the strength of phylogenetic constraint varies markedly with timing. The results provide an empirical foundation for identifying reliable temporal anchors in comparative primate ontogeny and have implications for interpreting maturational patterns in human evolution and the fossil record.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2026

Tracing the Neanderthal-Modern Human hybrid zone using paleogenomic data

Interbreeding between closely related lineages is a pervasive evolutionary feature across taxa1, including modern humans, who admixed with Neanderthals and other archaic hominins2,3. Identifying where gene flow between these lineages happened can shed light on ecological and adaptive contexts in which introgressed genes were acquired. However, mapping ancient hybrid zones is challenging because post-admixture population dynamics obscure their genetic signatures. Here, we determine the conditions under which spatial patterns of introgressed DNA in ancient genomes allow the inference of the geographic location of past hybridization events during population expansions. Using computational simulations, we identify the conditions under which introgression-based statistics provide informative signals about past hybridization events. We show that the mean genomic proportion of introgressed DNA, which can be readily calculated from low-coverage ancient genomes, reveals a cline that increases with distance from the population expansion source until reaching the hybrid zone boundary and persists over time. Comparison with empirical Neanderthal introgression distribution from an extended Eurasian paleogenomic dataset supports a prolonged admixture pulse extending far beyond the Levant in western Eurasia. Our findings highlight the power of paleogenomics to reconstruct the spatiotemporal dynamics of species interactions.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2023

Neurodevelopmental timing and socio-cognitive development in a prosocial cooperatively breeding primate (Callithrix jacchus)

Primate, and especially human, brain development is experience-dependent: it is shaped by the inputs received during critical periods. During early development, these inputs systematically differ between independently and cooperatively breeding species, because in cooperative breeders infants are interacting from birth with multiple caretakers and have to thrive in a richer and more challenging social environment. Here, we study the neurodevelopmental timing of the cooperatively breeding common marmoset and how it maps onto behavioral and developmental milestones. To obtain meaningful correlations of structure-function co-constructions, we combine behavioral, imaging (anatomical and functional) and neural tracing experiments. We focus on brain areas that are critically involved when observing conspecifics interacting with others and find that (i) these areas develop in clusters; (ii) these areas reach their maximum gray matter volume shortly after peak provisioning, when immatures are intensely provisioned by group members; (iii) the differentiation of these areas coincides with the period of intense negotiation between immatures and multiple adults over food, the birth of the next set of siblings, and the task of becoming a helper. Moreover, like in humans, differentiation is not fully completed at the age of first reproduction. In sum, we find that the developmental timing of social brain areas coincides with key social and developmental milestones in marmosets, and extends into early adulthood. This rich social input is likely critical for the emergence of the particularly strong prosociality and socio-cognitive skills of marmosets. Since humans are cooperative breeders too, these findings have strong implications for the evolution of human social cognition.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2023

Human amygdala volumetric patterns convergently evolved in cooperatively breeding and domesticated species

PurposeThe amygdala is a hub in brain networks that supports social life and fear processing. Compared to other apes, humans have a relatively larger lateral nucleus of the amygdala, which is consistent with both the self-domestication and the cooperative breeding hypothesis of human evolution. MethodsHere, we take a comparative approach to the evolutionary origin of the relatively larger lateral amygdala nucleus in humans. We carry out phylogenetic analysis on a sample of 17 mammalian species for which we acquired single amygdala nuclei volumetric data. ResultsOur results indicate that there has been convergent evolution toward larger lateral amygdala nuclei in both domesticated and cooperatively breeding mammals. ConclusionThese results suggest that changes in processing fearful stimuli to reduce fear-induced aggression, which are necessary for domesticated and cooperatively breeding species alike, tap into the same neurobiological proximate mechanism. However, humans show not only changes in processing fearful stimuli but also in prosociality. Since cooperative breeding, but not domestication, is also associated with prosociality, a prominent role of the former during human evolution is more parsimonious, whereas self-domestication may have been involved as an additional stepping stone.

animal behavior and cognition↗