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Schachat SR, Goldstein PZ, Desalle R, Bobo DM, Boyce CK, Payne JL, Labandeira CC. Illusion of flight? Absence, evidence and the age of winged insects. Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2022. [DOI: 10.1093/biolinnean/blac137] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
The earliest fossils of winged insects (Pterygota) are mid-Carboniferous (latest Mississippian, 328–324 Mya), but estimates of their age based on fossil-calibrated molecular phylogenetic studies place their origin at 440–370 Mya during the Silurian or Devonian. This discrepancy would require that winged insects evaded fossilization for at least the first ~50 Myr of their history. Here, we examine the plausibility of such a gap in the fossil record, and possible explanations for it, based on comparisons with the fossil records of other arthropod groups, the distribution of first occurrence dates of pterygote families, phylogenetically informed simulations of the fossilization of Palaeozoic insects, and re-analysis of data presented by Misof and colleagues using updated fossil calibrations under a variety of prior probability settings. We do not find support for the mechanisms previously suggested to account for such an extended gap in the pterygote fossil record, including sampling bias, preservation bias, and body size. We suggest that inference of an early origin of Pterygota long prior to their first appearance in the fossil record is probably an analytical artefact of taxon sampling and choice of fossil calibration points, possibly compounded by heterogeneity in rates of sequence evolution or speciation, including radiations or ‘bursts’ during their early history.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sandra R Schachat
- Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford University , Stanford, CA , USA
| | - Paul Z Goldstein
- Systematic Entomology Laboratory, USDA, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution , Washington, DC , USA
| | - Rob Desalle
- American Museum of Natural History, Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics , New York, NY , USA
| | - Dean M Bobo
- American Museum of Natural History, Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics , New York, NY , USA
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology, Columbia University , New York, NY , USA
| | - C Kevin Boyce
- Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford University , Stanford, CA , USA
| | - Jonathan L Payne
- Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford University , Stanford, CA , USA
| | - Conrad C Labandeira
- Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution , Washington, DC , USA
- Department of Entomology and Behavior, Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics Program, University of Maryland, College Park , MD , USA
- Capital Normal University, School of Life Sciences , Beijing , China
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2
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Yavuzatmaca M. Determination of environmental variables groups affecting the occurrence of non-marine ostracods (Crustacea) in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Turkey. Biologia (Bratisl) 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s11756-022-01208-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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3
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Fu Y, Cai C, Chen P, Huang D. The earliest known brood care in insects. Proc Biol Sci 2022; 289:20220447. [PMID: 35858065 PMCID: PMC9277243 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.0447] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Brood care enhances offspring fitness and survival by providing protection or feeding through parents (commonly by females). It has evolved independently multiple times in animals, e.g. mammals, birds, dinosaurs and arthropods, especially various lineages of insects, and has significant implications for understanding the emergence of sociality of insects. However, few fossil insects document such an ephemeral behaviour directly. New exceptional fossils of the water boatman Karataviella popovi from the Middle-Late Jurassic Daohugou biota (ca 163.5 Ma, northeastern China), with adult females bearing clutches of eggs on their left mesotibia, provide a unique brooding strategy (asymmetric egg-carrying behaviour) unknown in all extinct and extant insects. Our discovery represents the earliest direct evidence of brood care among insects, pushing back by more than 38 million years, indicating that relevant adaptations associated with maternal investment of insects can be traced back to at least the Middle-Late Jurassic, and highlighting the existence of diverse brooding strategies in Mesozoic insects. In addition, our discovery reveals that a specialized trawl-like filter-capture apparatus of K. popovi probably represents pre-adaptions originally used for trapping coeval anostracan (fairy shrimp) eggs for food.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yanzhe Fu
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, and Centre for Excellence in Life and Palaeoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, People's Republic of China
| | - Chenyang Cai
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, and Centre for Excellence in Life and Palaeoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, People's Republic of China
| | - Pingping Chen
- Section Entomology, Naturalis Biodiversity Centre, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Diying Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, and Centre for Excellence in Life and Palaeoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, People's Republic of China
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4
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Aria C. The origin and early evolution of arthropods. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2022; 97:1786-1809. [PMID: 35475316 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12864] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2021] [Revised: 04/12/2022] [Accepted: 04/14/2022] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
The rise of arthropods is a decisive event in the history of life. Likely the first animals to have established themselves on land and in the air, arthropods have pervaded nearly all ecosystems and have become pillars of the planet's ecological networks. Forerunners of this saga, exceptionally well-preserved Palaeozoic fossils recently discovered or re-discovered using new approaches and techniques have elucidated the precocious appearance of extant lineages at the onset of the Cambrian explosion, and pointed to the critical role of the plankton and hard integuments in early arthropod diversification. The notion put forward at the beginning of the century that the acquisition of extant arthropod characters was stepwise and represented by the majority of Cambrian fossil taxa is being rewritten. Although some key traits leading to Euarthropoda are indeed well documented along a diversified phylogenetic stem, this stem led to several speciose and ecologically diverse radiations leaving descendants late into the Palaeozoic, and a large part, if not all of the Cambrian euarthropods can now be placed on either of the two extant lineages: Mandibulata and Chelicerata. These new observations and discoveries have altered our view on the nature and timing of the Cambrian explosion and clarified diagnostic characters at the origin of extant arthropods, but also raised new questions, especially with respect to cephalic plasticity. There is now strong evidence that early arthropods shared a homologous frontalmost appendage, coined here the cheira, which likely evolved into antennules and chelicerae, but other aspects, such as brain and labrum evolution, are still subject to active debate. The early evolution of panarthropods was generally driven by increased mastication and predation efficiency and sophistication, but a wealth of recent studies have also highlighted the prevalent role of suspension-feeding, for which early panarthropods developed their own adaptive feedback through both specialized appendages and the diversification of small, morphologically differentiated larvae. In a context of general integumental differentiation and hardening across Cambrian metazoans, arthrodization of body and limbs notably prompted two diverging strategies of basipod differentiation, which arguably became founding criteria in the divergence of total-groups Mandibulata and Chelicerata. The kinship of trilobites and their relatives remains a source of disagreement, but a recent topological solution, termed the 'deep split', could embed Artiopoda as sister taxa to chelicerates and constitute definitive support for Arachnomorpha. Although Cambrian fossils have been critical to all these findings, data of exceptional quality have also been accumulating from other Palaeozoic Konservat-Lagerstätten, and a better integration of this information promises a much more complete and elaborate picture of early arthropod evolution in the near future. From the broader perspective of a total-evidence approach to the understanding of life's history, and despite persisting systematic debates and new interpretative challenges, various advances based on palaeontological evidence open the prospect of finally using the full potential of the most diverse animal phylum to investigate macroevolutionary patterns and processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cédric Aria
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Palaeoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, P. R. China.,Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Early Life and Environments, Northwest University, Xi'an, 710069, P.R. China
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5
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Guo X, Selden PA, Ren D. Maternal care in Mid-Cretaceous lagonomegopid spiders. Proc Biol Sci 2021; 288:20211279. [PMID: 34521253 PMCID: PMC8441120 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.1279] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2021] [Accepted: 08/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Maternal care benefits the survival and fitness of offspring, often at a cost to the mother's future reproduction, and has evolved repeatedly throughout the animal kingdom. In extant spider species, this behaviour is very common and has different levels and diverse forms. However, evidence of maternal care in fossil spiders is quite rare. In this study, we describe four Mid-Cretaceous (approx. 99 Ma) amber specimens from northern Myanmar with an adult female, part of an egg sac and some spiderlings of the extinct family Lagonomegopidae preserved, which suggest that adult lagonomegopid females probably built and then guarded egg sacs in their retreats or nests, and the hatched spiderlings may have stayed together with their mother for some time. The new fossils represent early evidence of maternal care in fossil spiders, and enhance our understanding of the evolution of this behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiangbo Guo
- College of Life Sciences and Academy for Multidisciplinary Studies, Capital Normal University, 105 Xisanhuanbeilu, Haidian District, Beijing 100048, People's Republic of China
| | - Paul A. Selden
- College of Life Sciences and Academy for Multidisciplinary Studies, Capital Normal University, 105 Xisanhuanbeilu, Haidian District, Beijing 100048, People's Republic of China
- Department of Geology, University of Kansas, 1414 Naismith Drive, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA
- Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK
| | - Dong Ren
- College of Life Sciences and Academy for Multidisciplinary Studies, Capital Normal University, 105 Xisanhuanbeilu, Haidian District, Beijing 100048, People's Republic of China
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7
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Wang H, Matzke-Karasz R, Horne DJ, Zhao X, Cao M, Zhang H, Wang B. Exceptional preservation of reproductive organs and giant sperm in Cretaceous ostracods. Proc Biol Sci 2020; 287:20201661. [PMID: 32933445 PMCID: PMC7542813 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.1661] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2020] [Accepted: 08/19/2020] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The bivalved crustacean ostracods have the richest fossil record of any arthropod group and display complex reproductive strategies contributing to their evolutionary success. Sexual reproduction involving giant sperm, shared by three superfamilies of living ostracod crustaceans, is among the most fascinating behaviours. However, the origin and evolution of this reproductive mechanism has remained largely unexplored because fossil preservation of such features is extremely rare. Here, we report exceptionally preserved ostracods with soft parts (appendages and reproductive organs) in a single piece of mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber (approximately 100 Myr old). The ostracod assemblage is composed of 39 individuals. Thirty-one individuals belong to a new species and genus, Myanmarcypris hui gen. et sp. nov., exhibiting an ontogenetic sequence from juveniles to adults (male and female). Seven individuals are assigned to Thalassocypria sp. (Cypridoidea, Candonidae, Paracypridinae) and one to Sanyuania sp. (Cytheroidea, Loxoconchidae). Our micro-CT reconstruction provides direct evidence of the male clasper, sperm pumps (Zenker organs), hemipenes, eggs and female seminal receptacles with giant sperm. Our results reveal that the reproduction behavioural repertoire, which is associated with considerable morphological adaptations, has remained unchanged over at least 100 million years-a paramount example of evolutionary stasis. These results also double the age of the oldest unequivocal fossil animal sperm. This discovery highlights the capacity of amber to document invertebrate soft parts that are rarely recorded by other depositional environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- He Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, People's Republic of China
| | - Renate Matzke-Karasz
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Palaeontology and Geobiology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Richard-Wagner-Strasse 10, 80333 München, Germany
| | - David J. Horne
- School of Geography, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK
| | - Xiangdong Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, People's Republic of China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, People's Republic of China
| | - Meizhen Cao
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, People's Republic of China
| | - Haichun Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, People's Republic of China
| | - Bo Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, People's Republic of China
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8
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Ou Q, Vannier J, Yang X, Chen A, Mai H, Shu D, Han J, Fu D, Wang R, Mayer G. Evolutionary trade-off in reproduction of Cambrian arthropods. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2020; 6:eaaz3376. [PMID: 32426476 PMCID: PMC7190318 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaz3376] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2019] [Accepted: 02/03/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Trade-offs play a crucial role in the evolution of life-history strategies of extant organisms by shaping traits such as growth pattern, reproductive investment, and lifespan. One important trade-off is between offspring number and energy (nutrition, parental care, etc.) allocated to individual offspring. Exceptional Cambrian fossils allowed us to trace the earliest evidence of trade-offs in arthropod reproduction. †Chuandianella ovata, from the early Cambrian Chengjiang biota of China, brooded numerous (≤100 per clutch), small (Ø, ~0.5 mm) eggs under carapace flaps. The closely related †Waptia fieldensis, from the middle Cambrian Burgess Shale of Canada, also brooded young, but carried fewer (≤ 26 per clutch), larger (Ø, ~2.0 mm) eggs. The notable differences in clutch/egg sizes between these two species suggest an evolutionary trade-off between quantity and quality of offspring. The shift toward fewer, larger eggs might be an adaptive response to marine ecosystem changes through the early-middle Cambrian. We hypothesize that reproductive trade-offs might have facilitated the evolutionary success of early arthropods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiang Ou
- Early Life Evolution Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China
- Department of Zoology, University of Kassel, 34132 Kassel, Germany
| | - Jean Vannier
- Université de Lyon, Université Lyon 1, ENS de Lyon, Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon: Terre, Planètes, Environnement (CNRS-UMR 5276), 69622 Villeurbanne, France
| | - Xianfeng Yang
- MEC International Joint Laboratory for Palaeoenvironment, Yunnan Key Laboratory for Palaeobiology, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, China
| | - Ailin Chen
- Research Center of Paleobiology, Yuxi Normal University, Yuxi, Yunnan 653100, China
| | - Huijuan Mai
- MEC International Joint Laboratory for Palaeoenvironment, Yunnan Key Laboratory for Palaeobiology, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, China
| | - Degan Shu
- Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Early Life and Environment, State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, Department of Geology, Northwest University, Xi’an 710069, China
| | - Jian Han
- Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Early Life and Environment, State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, Department of Geology, Northwest University, Xi’an 710069, China
| | - Dongjing Fu
- Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Early Life and Environment, State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, Department of Geology, Northwest University, Xi’an 710069, China
| | - Rong Wang
- Early Life Evolution Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Georg Mayer
- Department of Zoology, University of Kassel, 34132 Kassel, Germany
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9
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Jauvion C, Audo D, Bernard S, Vannier J, Daley AC, Charbonnier S. A new polychelidan lobster preserved with its eggs in a 165 Ma nodule. Sci Rep 2020; 10:3574. [PMID: 32107415 PMCID: PMC7046737 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-60282-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2020] [Accepted: 02/06/2020] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Crustacean eggs are rare in the fossil record. Here we report the exquisite preservation of a fossil polychelidan embedded within an unbroken nodule from the Middle Jurassic La Voulte-sur-Rhône Lagerstätte (France) and found with hundreds of eggs attached to the pleon. This specimen belongs to a new species, Palaeopolycheles nantosueltae sp. nov. and offers unique clues to discuss the evolution of brooding behaviour in polychelidan lobsters. In contrast to their development, which now relies on a long-lived planktic larval stage that probably did not exist in the early evolutionary steps of the group, the brood size of polychelidan lobsters seems to have remained unchanged and comparatively small since the Jurassic. This finding is at odds with reproductive strategies in other lobster groups, in which a long-lived planktic larval stage is associated with a large brood size.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clément Jauvion
- Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Sorbonne Université, CNRS UMR 7207, CR2P, Centre de Recherche en Paléontologie - Paris, 8 rue Buffon, 75005, Paris, France. .,Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Sorbonne Université, CNRS UMR 7590, IRD, Institut de Minéralogie, de Physique des Matériaux et de Cosmochimie, IMPMC, Paris, France.
| | - Denis Audo
- Yunnan Key Laboratory for Palaeobiology, Yunnan University, Kunming, China.,MEC International Joint Laboratory for Palaeobiology and Palaeoenvironment, Yunnan University, Kunming, China
| | - Sylvain Bernard
- Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Sorbonne Université, CNRS UMR 7590, IRD, Institut de Minéralogie, de Physique des Matériaux et de Cosmochimie, IMPMC, Paris, France
| | - Jean Vannier
- Univ Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, ENS de Lyon, CNRS, UMR 5276 LGL-TPE, 2, rue Raphaël Dubois, 69622, Villeurbanne Cedex, France
| | - Allison C Daley
- Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Lausanne, Géopolis, CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Sylvain Charbonnier
- Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Sorbonne Université, CNRS UMR 7207, CR2P, Centre de Recherche en Paléontologie - Paris, 8 rue Buffon, 75005, Paris, France
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10
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Yamada S. Ultrastructure and cuticle formation of the carapace in the myodocopan ostracod exemplified by Euphilomedes japonica (Crustacea: Ostracoda). J Morphol 2019; 280:809-826. [PMID: 30932213 DOI: 10.1002/jmor.20985] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2018] [Revised: 03/02/2019] [Accepted: 03/16/2019] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
The ultrastructure and formation of the cuticle of a myodocopan ostracod, Euphilomedes japonica, are investigated utilizing scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The outer lamella cuticle consists of four layers; epicuticle, exocuticle, endocuticle, and membranous layer like in the cuticle of other arthropods. The exocuticle and endocuticle are well-calcified and the organic matrix develops within the both cuticles. The outermost layer of new cuticle (epicuticle) is secreted first and the inner layers (exocuticle, endocuticle and membranous layer) are added proximally in the pre-, and postmoult stages. The calcification takes place in the whole area of carapace at the same time together with the synthesis of organic matrix within the endocuticle. This study demonstrates that the ultrastructure and formation of the cuticle in myodocopans are different from those in podocopans, and that the myodocopan carapaces have achieved a structural diversity for adaptation to different lifestyles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shinnosuke Yamada
- Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, International University of Health and Welfare, Narita Campus, Narita City, Chiba, Japan
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11
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Siveter DJ, Briggs DEG, Siveter DJ, Sutton MD. A well-preserved respiratory system in a Silurian ostracod. Biol Lett 2018; 14:rsbl.2018.0464. [PMID: 30404865 PMCID: PMC6283931 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2018.0464] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2018] [Accepted: 10/12/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Ostracod crustaceans are diverse and ubiquitous in aqueous environments today but relatively few known species have gills. Ostracods are the most abundant fossil arthropods but examples of soft-part preservation, especially of gills, are exceptionally rare. A new ostracod, Spiricopia aurita (Myodocopa), from the marine Silurian Herefordshire Lagerstätte (430 Mya), UK, preserves appendages, lateral eyes and gills. The respiratory system includes five pairs of gill lamellae with hypobranchial and epibranchial canals that conveyed haemolymph. A heart and associated vessels had likely evolved in ostracods by the Mid-Silurian.
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Affiliation(s)
- David J Siveter
- School of Geography, Geology and the Environment, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK
| | - Derek E G Briggs
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, and Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, PO Box 208109, New Haven, CT 06520-8109, USA
| | - Derek J Siveter
- Earth Collections, University Museum of Natural History, Oxford OX1 3PW, UK.,Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3AN, UK
| | - Mark D Sutton
- Department of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2BP, UK
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12
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Anamorphic development and extended parental care in a 520 million-year-old stem-group euarthropod from China. BMC Evol Biol 2018; 18:147. [PMID: 30268090 PMCID: PMC6162911 DOI: 10.1186/s12862-018-1262-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2018] [Accepted: 09/20/2018] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Extended parental care is a complex reproductive strategy in which progenitors actively look after their offspring up to – or beyond – the first juvenile stage in order to maximize their fitness. Although the euarthropod fossil record has produced several examples of brood-care, the appearance of extended parental care within this phylum remains poorly constrained given the scarcity of developmental data for Palaeozoic stem-group representatives that would link juvenile and adult forms in an ontogenetic sequence. Results Here, we describe the post-embryonic growth of Fuxianhuia protensa from the early Cambrian Chengjiang Lagerstätte in South China. Our data demonstrate anamorphic post-embryonic development for F. protensa, in which new tergites were sequentially added from a posterior growth zone, the number of tergites varies from eight to 30. The growth of F. protensa is typified by the alternation between segment addition, followed by the depletion of the anteriormost abdominal segment into the thoracic region. The transformation of abdominal into thoracic tergite is demarcated by the development of laterally tergopleurae, and biramous walking legs. The new ontogeny data leads to the recognition of the rare Chengjiang euarthropod Pisinnocaris subconigera as a junior synonym of Fuxianhuia. Comparisons between different species of Fuxianhuia and with other genera within Fuxianhuiida suggest that heterochrony played a prominent role in the morphological diversification of fuxianhuiids. Functional analogy with the flexible trunk ontogeny of Cambrian and Silurian olenimorphic trilobites suggests an adaptation to sporadic low oxygen conditions in Chengjiang deposits for F. protensa. Finally, understanding the growth of F. protensa allows for the interpretation of an exceptional life assemblage consisting of a sexually mature adult alongside four ontogenetically coeval juveniles, which constitutes the oldest occurrence of extended parental care by prolonged cohabitation in the panarthropod fossil record. Conclusions Our findings constitute the most detailed characterization of the post-embryonic development in a soft-bodied upper stem-group euarthropod available to date. The new ontogeny data illuminates the systematics, trunk segmentation and palaeoecology of F. protensa, offers insights on the macroevolutionary processes involved in the diversification of this clade, and contributes towards an improved understanding of complex post-embryonic reproductive ecology in Cambrian euarthropods. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12862-018-1262-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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13
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Sixty-one thousand recent planktonic foraminifera from the Atlantic Ocean. Sci Data 2018; 5:180109. [PMID: 30152812 PMCID: PMC6111889 DOI: 10.1038/sdata.2018.109] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2017] [Accepted: 03/22/2018] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Marine microfossils record the environmental, ecological, and evolutionary dynamics of past oceans in temporally expanded sedimentary archives. Rapid imaging approaches provide a means of exploiting the primary advantage of this archive, the vast number of fossils, for evolution and ecology. Here we provide the first large scale image and 2D and 3D shape dataset of modern planktonic foraminifera, a major microfossil group, from 34 Atlantic Ocean sediment samples. Information on more than 124,000 objects is provided, including general object classification for 4/5ths of the dataset (~ 99,000 objects). Of the ~ 99,000 classifications provided, more than 61,000 are complete or damaged planktonic foraminifera. Objects also include benthic foraminifera, ostracods, pteropods, spicules, and planktonic foraminifera test fragments, among others. This dataset is the first major microfossil output of a new high-throughput imaging method (AutoMorph) developed to extract 2D and 3D data from photographic images of fossils. Our sample preparation and imaging techniques are described in detail. The data provided here comprises the most extensive publically available archive of planktonic foraminiferal morphology and morphological variation to date.
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14
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Feinerman O, Korman A. Individual versus collective cognition in social insects. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2017; 220:73-82. [PMID: 28057830 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.143891] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
The concerted responses of eusocial insects to environmental stimuli are often referred to as collective cognition at the level of the colony. To achieve collective cognition, a group can draw on two different sources: individual cognition and the connectivity between individuals. Computation in neural networks, for example, is attributed more to sophisticated communication schemes than to the complexity of individual neurons. The case of social insects, however, can be expected to differ. This is because individual insects are cognitively capable units that are often able to process information that is directly relevant at the level of the colony. Furthermore, involved communication patterns seem difficult to implement in a group of insects as they lack a clear network structure. This review discusses links between the cognition of an individual insect and that of the colony. We provide examples for collective cognition whose sources span the full spectrum between amplification of individual insect cognition and emergent group-level processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ofer Feinerman
- Department of Physics of Complex Systems, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel
| | - Amos Korman
- Institut de Recherche en Informatique Fondamentale (IRIF), CNRS and University Paris Diderot, Paris 75013, France
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15
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Sánchez-García A, Delclòs X, Engel MS, Bird GJ, Perrichot V, Peñalver E. Marsupial brood care in Cretaceous tanaidaceans. Sci Rep 2017; 7:4390. [PMID: 28663566 PMCID: PMC5491525 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-04050-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2016] [Accepted: 05/09/2017] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Parental care in animal evolution has long fascinated biologists, but tracing this complex of behavioural repertoires is challenging, as these transitory states often leave no corporeal traces as fossils. Among modern invertebrates, the tanaidaceans (Malacostraca: Peracarida), a lineage of marsupial crustaceans, show an interesting variety of brooding strategies. Here we report on fossil tanaidaceans from the Cretaceous of Spain and France that provide conclusive evidence for marsupial care of brood-offspring. Two exceptionally preserved female specimens of Alavatanais carabe and A. margulisae from Late Albian Peñacerrada I amber (Spain) possess four pairs of rudimentary oostegites, indicating formation of a marsupium. From Recent data, given the taxonomic distribution of a marsupium of four pairs of oostegites, we hypothesize that this may be plesiomorphic for the Tanaidomorpha. We also report on a peculiar tanaidacean specimen referable to the fossil family Alavatanaidae, Daenerytanais maieuticus gen. et sp. nov., from Early Cenomanian La Buzinie amber (France), preserved with its marsupial pouch and content. Our discoveries provide early evidence of the peracarid reproductive strategy, as seen in modern Tanaidacea, and argue that this form of parental care may have played a role in the diversification of the lineage during this period.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alba Sánchez-García
- Departament de Dinàmica de la Terra i de l'Oceà and Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat (IRBio), Facultat de Ciències de la Terra, Universitat de Barcelona, Martí i Franquès s/n, 08028, Barcelona, Spain.
| | - Xavier Delclòs
- Departament de Dinàmica de la Terra i de l'Oceà and Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat (IRBio), Facultat de Ciències de la Terra, Universitat de Barcelona, Martí i Franquès s/n, 08028, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Michael S Engel
- Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, New York, 10024-5192, USA.,Division of Entomology, Natural History Museum, and Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, 1501 Crestline Drive, Lawrence, Kansas, 66045-4415, USA
| | - Graham J Bird
- 8 Shotover Grove, 5036, Waikanae, Kāpiti, New Zealand
| | - Vincent Perrichot
- CNRS UMR 6118 Géosciences, Université Rennes 1, Campus de Beaulieu, 263 Avenue du Général Leclerc, 35042, Rennes Cedex, France
| | - Enrique Peñalver
- Museo Geominero, Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, Ríos Rosas 23, 28003, Madrid, Spain
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16
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Abstract
AbstractX-ray computed tomography (CT) provides a nondestructive means of studying the inside and outside of objects. It allows accurate visualization and measurement of internal features, that are otherwise impossible to obtain nondestructively, and is a lasting digital record that can be made available to future researchers, museums, and the general public. Here, an overview of CT scanning methodologies and protocol is provided, as well as some recent examples of how this technology is allowing paleontologists to make new inroads into understanding the ecology, evolution, and development of both extant and extinct organisms. Lastly, some frontiers and outstanding questions in the acquisition, processing, and storage of digital 3-D morphological data are highlighted.
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17
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Horváthová T, Antoł A, Czarnoleski M, Kozłowski J, Bauchinger U. An evolutionary solution of terrestrial isopods to cope with low atmospheric oxygen levels. J Exp Biol 2017; 220:1563-1567. [DOI: 10.1242/jeb.156661] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2017] [Accepted: 02/19/2017] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
The evolution of current terrestrial life was founded by major waves of land invasion coinciding with high atmospheric oxygen content. These waves were followed by periods with substantially reduced oxygen concentration and accompanied by evolution of novel traits. Reproduction and development are limiting factors for evolutionary water-land transitions, and brood care has likely facilitated land invasion. Peracarid crustaceans provide parental care for their offspring by brooding the early stages within the motherly pouch, marsupium. Terrestrial isopod progeny begins ontogenetic development within the marsupium in water, but conclude development within the marsupium in air. Our results for progeny growth until hatching from the marsupium provide evidence for the limiting effects of oxygen concentration and for a potentially adaptive solution. Inclusion of air within the marsupium compensates for initially constrained growth in water through catch-up growth, and it may explain how terrestrial isopods adapted to short- and long-term changes in oxygen concentration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Terézia Horváthová
- Institute of Environmental Sciences, Jagiellonian University, ul. Gronostajowa 7, 30-387 Kraków, Poland
| | - Andrzej Antoł
- Institute of Environmental Sciences, Jagiellonian University, ul. Gronostajowa 7, 30-387 Kraków, Poland
| | - Marcin Czarnoleski
- Institute of Environmental Sciences, Jagiellonian University, ul. Gronostajowa 7, 30-387 Kraków, Poland
| | - Jan Kozłowski
- Institute of Environmental Sciences, Jagiellonian University, ul. Gronostajowa 7, 30-387 Kraków, Poland
| | - Ulf Bauchinger
- Institute of Environmental Sciences, Jagiellonian University, ul. Gronostajowa 7, 30-387 Kraków, Poland
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18
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Vogt G. Structural specialties, curiosities, and record-breaking features of crustacean reproduction. J Morphol 2016; 277:1399-1422. [DOI: 10.1002/jmor.20582] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2016] [Revised: 06/18/2016] [Accepted: 07/06/2016] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Günter Vogt
- Faculty of Biosciences; University of Heidelberg; Im Neuenheimer Feld 230 69120 Heidelberg Germany
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19
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Briggs DEG, Siveter DJ, Siveter DJ, Sutton MD, Legg D. Tiny individuals attached to a new Silurian arthropod suggest a unique mode of brood care. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2016; 113:4410-5. [PMID: 27044103 PMCID: PMC4843443 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1600489113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/25/2023] Open
Abstract
The ∼430-My-old Herefordshire, United Kingdom, Lagerstätte has yielded a diversity of remarkably preserved invertebrates, many of which provide fundamental insights into the evolutionary history and ecology of particular taxa. Here we report a new arthropod with 10 tiny arthropods tethered to its tergites by long individual threads. The head of the host, which is covered by a shield that projects anteriorly, bears a long stout uniramous antenna and a chelate limb followed by two biramous appendages. The trunk comprises 11 segments, all bearing limbs and covered by tergites with long slender lateral spines. A short telson bears long parallel cerci. Our phylogenetic analysis resolves the new arthropod as a stem-group mandibulate. The evidence suggests that the tethered individuals are juveniles and the association represents a complex brooding behavior. Alternative possibilities-that the tethered individuals represent a different epizoic or parasitic arthropod-appear less likely.
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Affiliation(s)
- Derek E G Briggs
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8109; Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8109;
| | - Derek J Siveter
- Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Oxford OX1 3PW, United Kingdom; Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3AN, United Kingdom
| | - David J Siveter
- Department of Geology, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, United Kingdom
| | - Mark D Sutton
- Department of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2BP, United Kingdom
| | - David Legg
- Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Oxford OX1 3PW, United Kingdom
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20
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Daley AC, Drage HB. The fossil record of ecdysis, and trends in the moulting behaviour of trilobites. ARTHROPOD STRUCTURE & DEVELOPMENT 2016; 45:71-96. [PMID: 26431634 DOI: 10.1016/j.asd.2015.09.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2015] [Revised: 09/01/2015] [Accepted: 09/14/2015] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
Ecdysis, the process of moulting an exoskeleton, is one of the key characters uniting arthropods, nematodes and a number of smaller phyla into Ecdysozoa. The arthropod fossil record, particularly trilobites, eurypterids and decapod crustaceans, yields information on moulting, although the current focus is predominantly descriptive and lacks a broader evolutionary perspective. We here review literature on the fossil record of ecdysis, synthesising research on the behaviour, evolutionary trends, and phylogenetic significance of moulting throughout the Phanerozoic. Approaches vary widely between taxonomic groups, but an overall theme uniting these works suggests that identifying moults in the palaeontological record must take into account the morphology, taphonomy and depositional environment of fossils. We also quantitatively analyse trends in trilobite ecdysis based on a newly generated database of published incidences of moulting behaviour. This preliminary work reveals significant taxonomic and temporal signal in the trilobite moulting fossil record, with free cheek moulting being prevalent across all Orders and throughout the Phanerozoic, and peaks of cephalic moulting in Phacopida during the Ordovician and rostral plate moulting in Redlichiida during the Cambrian. This study and a review of the literature suggest that it is feasible to extract large-scale evolutionary information from the fossil record of moulting.
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Affiliation(s)
- Allison C Daley
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PS, United Kingdom; Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PZ, United Kingdom.
| | - Harriet B Drage
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PS, United Kingdom; Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PZ, United Kingdom
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21
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Schwermann AH, dos Santos Rolo T, Caterino MS, Bechly G, Schmied H, Baumbach T, van de Kamp T. Preservation of three-dimensional anatomy in phosphatized fossil arthropods enriches evolutionary inference. eLife 2016; 5:e12129. [PMID: 26854367 PMCID: PMC4758943 DOI: 10.7554/elife.12129] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2015] [Accepted: 12/23/2015] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
External and internal morphological characters of extant and fossil organisms are crucial to establishing their systematic position, ecological role and evolutionary trends. The lack of internal characters and soft-tissue preservation in many arthropod fossils, however, impedes comprehensive phylogenetic analyses and species descriptions according to taxonomic standards for Recent organisms. We found well-preserved three-dimensional anatomy in mineralized arthropods from Paleogene fissure fillings and demonstrate the value of these fossils by utilizing digitally reconstructed anatomical structure of a hister beetle. The new anatomical data facilitate a refinement of the species diagnosis and allowed us to reject a previous hypothesis of close phylogenetic relationship to an extant congeneric species. Our findings suggest that mineralized fossils, even those of macroscopically poor preservation, constitute a rich but yet largely unexploited source of anatomical data for fossil arthropods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Achim H Schwermann
- Steinmann Institute for Geology, Mineralogy and Paleontology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
| | - Tomy dos Santos Rolo
- ANKA/Institute for Photon Science and Synchrotron Radiation, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany
| | - Michael S Caterino
- Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, United States
| | - Günter Bechly
- State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Heiko Schmied
- Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
| | - Tilo Baumbach
- ANKA/Institute for Photon Science and Synchrotron Radiation, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany
- Laboratory for Applications of Synchrotron Radiation, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany
| | - Thomas van de Kamp
- ANKA/Institute for Photon Science and Synchrotron Radiation, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany
- Laboratory for Applications of Synchrotron Radiation, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany
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22
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Vinther J. Fossil melanosomes or bacteria? A wealth of findings favours melanosomes: Melanin fossilises relatively readily, bacteria rarely, hence the need for clarification in the debate over the identity of microbodies in fossil animal specimens. Bioessays 2015; 38:220-5. [PMID: 26692172 DOI: 10.1002/bies.201500168] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
The discovery of fossil melanosomes has resulted in a wealth of research over the last 7 years, notably the reconstruction of colour in dinosaurs and fossil mammals. In spite of these discoveries some authors persist in arguing that the observed microbodies could represent preserved bacteria. They contend that bacteria fossilise easily and everywhere, which means that one can never be certain that a microbody is a melanosome without an extraordinary burden of evidence. However, this critique mischaracterises the morphological and structural evidence for interpreting microbodies as fossil melanosomes, and hence the basis for using them in reconstructing prehistoric colours. The claims for bacterial omnipresence in the fossil record are themselves not supported, thus tipping the scales strongly towards melanosomes in the bacteria-versus-melanosome controversy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jakob Vinther
- Schools of Earth Sciences and Biological Sciences, Life Sciences Building University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
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23
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Caron JB, Vannier J. Waptia and the Diversification of Brood Care in Early Arthropods. Curr Biol 2015; 26:69-74. [PMID: 26711492 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2015.11.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2015] [Revised: 10/30/2015] [Accepted: 11/03/2015] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Brood care, including the carrying of eggs or juveniles, is a form of parental care, which, like other parental traits [1], enhances offspring fitness with variable costs and benefits to the parents [2]. Attempts to understand why and how parental care evolved independently in numerous animal groups often emphasize the role of environmental pressures such as predation, ephemeral resources, and, more generally, the harshness of environment. The fossil record can, in principle, provide minimum age constraints on the evolution of life-history traits, including brood care and key information on the reproductive strategies of extinct organisms. New, exceptionally preserved specimens of the weakly sclerotized arthropod Waptia fieldensis from the middle Cambrian (ca. 508 million years ago) Burgess Shale, Canada, provide the oldest example of in situ eggs with preserved embryos in the fossil record. The relatively small clutch size, up to 24 eggs, and the relatively large diameter of individual eggs, some over 2 mm, contrast with the high number of small eggs-found without preserved embryos-in the bivalved bradoriid arthropod Kunmingella douvillei from the Chengjiang biota (ca. 515 million years ago). The presence of these two different parental strategies suggests a rapid evolution of a variety of modern-type life-history traits, including extended investment in offspring survivorship, soon after the Cambrian emergence of animals. Together with previously described brooded eggs in ostracods from the Upper Ordovician (ca. 450 million years ago), these new findings suggest that the presence of a bivalved carapace played a key role in the early evolution of parental care in arthropods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jean-Bernard Caron
- Department of Natural History (Palaeobiology Section), Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen's Park, Toronto, ON M5S2C6, Canada; Departments of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Earth Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S3B2, Canada.
| | - Jean Vannier
- Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon: Terre, Planètes, Environnement (CNRS-UMR 5276), Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, 69622 Villeurbanne Cedex, France
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24
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Wang B, Xia F, Wappler T, Simon E, Zhang H, Jarzembowski EA, Szwedo J. Brood care in a 100-million-year-old scale insect. eLife 2015; 4. [PMID: 25824055 PMCID: PMC4378507 DOI: 10.7554/elife.05447] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2014] [Accepted: 02/25/2015] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Behavior of extinct organisms can be inferred only indirectly, but occasionally rare fossils document particular behaviors directly. Brood care, a remarkable behavior promoting the survival of the next generation, has evolved independently numerous times among animals including insects. However, fossil evidence of such a complex behavior is exceptionally scarce. Here, we report an ensign scale insect (Hemiptera: Ortheziidae), Wathondara kotejai gen. et sp. nov., from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber, which preserves eggs within a wax ovisac, and several freshly hatched nymphs. The new fossil is the only Mesozoic record of an adult female scale insect. More importantly, our finding represents the earliest unequivocal direct evidence of brood care in the insect fossil record and demonstrates a remarkably conserved egg-brooding reproductive strategy within scale insects in stasis for nearly 100 million years. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.05447.001 Many animals care for and protect their offspring to increase their survival and fitness. Insects care for their young using a range of strategies: some dig underground chambers for their young, whilst others carry their brood around on their own bodies. However, it was unclear when these strategies first evolved in insects. Now Wang et al. report that they have discovered the earliest fossil evidence of an insect caring for its young, in the form of a female insect preserved with her brood in a specimen of ancient amber. The amber comes from northern Myanmar, where amber deposits are around 95–105 million years old. The fossilised insect is an adult female scale insect with a cluster of around 60 eggs on her abdomen. Six young scale insect nymphs are also preserved in the same piece of amber. Wang et al. named this newly discovered species Wathondara kotejai, after an earth goddess in South-East Asian Buddhist mythology and the late Polish entomologist Jan Koteja. Most scale insect fossils found to date have been males. Fossilised adult females are scarcer, most likely because female scale insects are wingless and less mobile and therefore less prone to accidental burial. The fossil reported by Wang et al. is therefore a rare find, and it is also sufficiently well preserved to reveal that the female's eggs are contained within a wax-coated egg sac. Today there are many species of scale insects, most of which are parasites of plants and many are economically important pests of trees and shrubs. In living relatives of W. kotejai, females use a similar wax coating to protect themselves and their offspring: young nymphs hatch inside the egg sac and remain there for a few days before emerging into the outside world. This new fossil provides a unique insight into the anatomy and life cycle of a long-extinct insect; it also demonstrates that brood care in insects is an ancient trait that dates back to at least around 100 million years ago at the height of the age of the dinosaurs. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.05447.002
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Affiliation(s)
- Bo Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
| | | | | | - Ewa Simon
- Department of Zoology, University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland
| | - Haichun Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
| | - Edmund A Jarzembowski
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
| | - Jacek Szwedo
- Department of Invertebrate Zoology and Parasitology, University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland
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Cai CY, Thayer MK, Engel MS, Newton AF, Ortega-Blanco J, Wang B, Wang XD, Huang DY. Early origin of parental care in Mesozoic carrion beetles. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2014; 111:14170-4. [PMID: 25225362 PMCID: PMC4191754 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1412280111] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The reconstruction and timing of the early stages of social evolution, such as parental care, in the fossil record is a challenge, as these behaviors often do not leave concrete traces. One of the intensely investigated examples of modern parental care are the modern burying beetles (Silphidae: Nicrophorus), a lineage that includes notable endangered species. Here we report diverse transitional silphids from the Mesozoic of China and Myanmar that provide insights into the origins of parental care. Jurassic silphids from Daohugou, sharing many defining characters of Nicrophorinae, primitively lack stridulatory files significant for parental care communications; although morphologically similar, Early Cretaceous nicrophorines from the Jehol biota possess such files, indicating that a system of parental care had evolved by this early date. More importantly, burying beetles of the genus Nicrophorus have their earliest first record in mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber, and document early evolution of elaborate biparental care and defense of small vertebrate carcasses for their larvae. Parental care in the Early Cretaceous may have originated from competition between silphids and their predators. The rise of the Cretaceous Nicrophorinae implies a biology similar to modern counterparts that typically feed on carcasses of small birds and mammals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chen-Yang Cai
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210008, People's Republic of China
| | - Margaret K Thayer
- Integrative Research Center, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL 60605
| | - Michael S Engel
- Division of Entomology, Natural History Museum, and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045
| | - Alfred F Newton
- Integrative Research Center, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL 60605
| | | | - Bo Wang
- Steinmann Institute, University of Bonn, 53115 Bonn, Germany; and
| | - Xiang-Dong Wang
- No. 7 Xinghuo Road, Fengtai District, Beijing, 100070, People's Republic of China
| | - Di-Ying Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210008, People's Republic of China;
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26
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Abstract
A spectacular Cambrian soft bodied fauna some 40 km from Walcott's original Burgess Shale locality includes over 50 taxa, some 20% new to science. New anatomical evidence from this site will illuminate the evolution of early marine animals.
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