AbstractBackgroundSkull diversity in the neotropical leaf-nosed bats (Phyllostomidae) evolved through a heterochronic process called peramorphosis, with underlying causes varying by subfamily. The nectar-eating (subfamily Glossophaginae) and blood-eating (subfamily Desmondontinae) groups originate from insect-eating ancestors and generate their uniquely shaped faces and skulls by extending the ancestral ontogenetic program, appending new developmental stages and demonstrating peramorphosis by hypermorphosis. However, the fruit-eating phyllostomids (subfamilies Carollinae and Stenodermatinae) adjust their craniofacial development by speeding up certain developmental processes, displaying peramorphosis by acceleration. We hypothesized that these two forms of peramorphosis detected by our morphometric studies could be explained by differential growth and investigated cell proliferation during craniofacial morphogenesis.ResultsWe obtained cranial tissues from four wild-caught bat species representing a range of facial diversity and labeled mitotic cells using immunohistochemistry. During craniofacial development, all bats display a conserved spatiotemporal distribution of proliferative cells with distinguishable zones of elevated mitosis. These areas were identified as modules by the spatial distribution analysis. Ancestral state reconstruction of proliferation rates and patterns in the facial module between species provided support, and a degree of explanation, for the developmental mechanisms underlying the two models of peramorphosis. In the long-faced species,Glossophaga soricina, whose facial shape evolved by hypermorphosis, cell proliferation rate is maintained at lower levels and for a longer period of time compared to the outgroup speciesMiniopterus natalensis. In both species of studied short-faced fruit bats,Carollia perspicillataandArtibeus jamaicensis, which evolved under the acceleration model, cell proliferation rate is increased compared to the outgroup.ConclusionsThis is the first study which links differential cellular proliferation and developmental modularity with heterochronic developmental changes, leading to the evolution of adaptive cranial diversity in an important group of mammals.