Perspectives on the convergent evolution of tetrapod salt glands

Abstract

Since their discovery in 1958, the function of specialized salt-secreting glands in tetrapods has been studied in great detail, and such studies continue to contribute to a general understanding of transport mechanisms of epithelial water and ions. Interestingly, during that same time period, there have been only few attempts to understand the convergent evolution of this tissue, likely as a result of the paucity of taxonomic, embryological, and molecular data available. In this review, we synthesize the available data regarding the distribution of salt glands across extant and extinct tetrapod lineages and the anatomical position of the salt gland in each taxon. Further, we use these data to develop hypotheses about the various factors that have influenced the convergent evolution of salt glands across taxa with special focus on the variation in the anatomical position of the glands and on the molecular mechanisms that may have facilitated the development of a salt gland by co-option of a nonsalt-secreting ancestral gland. It is our hope that this review will stimulate renewed interest in the topic of the convergent evolution of salt glands and inspire future empirical studies aimed at evaluating the hypotheses we lay out herein. © 2012 The Author.