Origin and Early Evolution of the Eukaryotes: Perspectives from the Fossil Record

2021 ◽  
pp. 255-289
Author(s):  
Heda Agić
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Early Evolution

scholarly journals 7. Ancient Fossil Record and Early Evolution (ca. 3.8 to 0.5 Ga)

2006 ◽  
Vol 98 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 247-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Purificacón López-Garcia ◽  
David Moreira ◽  
Emmanuel Douzery ◽  
Patrick Forterre ◽  
Mark Van Zuilen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Early Evolution

scholarly journals Debris-carrying camouflage among diverse lineages of Cretaceous insects

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (6) ◽  
pp. e1501918 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo Wang ◽  
Fangyuan Xia ◽  
Michael S. Engel ◽  
Vincent Perrichot ◽  
Gongle Shi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Morphological Characteristics ◽  
Early Evolution ◽  
Behavioral Repertoire ◽  
Wood Fibers ◽  
Morphological Adaptations ◽  
Evolutionary Success ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Insect Assemblage ◽  
Insight Into

Insects have evolved diverse methods of camouflage that have played an important role in their evolutionary success. Debris-carrying, a behavior of actively harvesting and carrying exogenous materials, is among the most fascinating and complex behaviors because it requires not only an ability to recognize, collect, and carry materials but also evolutionary adaptations in related morphological characteristics. However, the fossil record of such behavior is extremely scarce, and only a single Mesozoic example from Spanish amber has been recorded; therefore, little is known about the early evolution of this complicated behavior and its underlying anatomy. We report a diverse insect assemblage of exceptionally preserved debris carriers from Cretaceous Burmese, French, and Lebanese ambers, including the earliest known chrysopoid larvae (green lacewings), myrmeleontoid larvae (split-footed lacewings and owlflies), and reduviids (assassin bugs). These ancient insects used a variety of debris material, including insect exoskeletons, sand grains, soil dust, leaf trichomes of gleicheniacean ferns, wood fibers, and other vegetal debris. They convergently evolved their debris-carrying behavior through multiple pathways, which expressed a high degree of evolutionary plasticity. We demonstrate that the behavioral repertoire, which is associated with considerable morphological adaptations, was already widespread among insects by at least the Mid-Cretaceous. Together with the previously known Spanish specimen, these fossils are the oldest direct evidence of camouflaging behavior in the fossil record. Our findings provide a novel insight into early evolution of camouflage in insects and ancient ecological associations among plants and insects.

Discovery of Pemphilimnadiopsis cheni (Branchiopoda: Diplostraca: Spinicaudata) from the Benxi Formation in Taiyuan, North China and its stratigraphic significance

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 578-581
Author(s):  
HUAN-YU LIAO ◽  
XIN-NENG LIAN ◽  
JIAN GAO ◽  
CHEN-YANG CAI ◽  
ZHUO FENG ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Geographical Distribution ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
North China ◽  
Early Evolution ◽  
Clam Shrimp ◽  
The World ◽  
Freshwater Habitats ◽  
Benxi Formation

Clam shrimp (Spinicaudata) are worldwide distributed branchiopod crustaceans specialised in ephemeral freshwater habitats. The Carboniferous is an important period for the early evolution and diversification of clam shrimp. Compared with the rare and geographically confined fossil record of the Devonian, clam shrimp in the Carboniferous have a much wider geographical distribution and higher biodiversity. Over 20 genera of clam shrimp have been recorded in the Carboniferous all over the world, but they are sparse in China. To date, five records of Carboniferous clam shrimp have been reported from China (Pruvost, 1927; Zhang et al., 1976; Wang, 1987; Zheng et al., 1988; Liu & Fan, 1995; Liao et al., 2019). Among them, four species Lioestheria? mathieui Pruvost, 1927, Protomonocarina huixianensis Wang, 1987, Retrofractus lingyuanensis Liu & Fan, 1995, and Pemphilimnadiopsis cheni Liao, Shen & Huang, 2019, are found in the Pennsylvanian Benxi Formation in North China (Pruvost, 1927; Zhang et al., 1976; Wang, 1987; Liu & Fan, 1995; Liao et al., 2019).

scholarly journals Ancient Fossil Record and Early Evolution (ca. 3.8 to 0.5 Ga)

2006 ◽  
pp. 247-290
Author(s):  
Purificación López-García ◽  
David Moreira ◽  
Emmanuel Douzery ◽  
Patrick Forterre ◽  
Mark Van Zuilen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Early Evolution

The earliest fossil record of Belidae and its implications for the early evolution of Curculionoidea (Coleoptera)

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (24) ◽  
pp. 2105-2117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yali Yu ◽  
Steven R. Davis ◽  
Chungkun Shih ◽  
Dong Ren ◽  
Hong Pang
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Early Evolution

scholarly journals A Hiatus Obscures the Early Evolution of Modern Lineages of Bony Fishes

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlo Romano
Keyword(s):  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Middle Triassic ◽  
Early Evolution ◽  
Early Triassic ◽  
Triassic Boundary ◽  
Bony Fishes ◽  
Extinction Event ◽  
Mass Extinction Event ◽  
The Impact

About half of all vertebrate species today are ray-finned fishes (Actinopterygii), and nearly all of them belong to the Neopterygii (modern ray-fins). The oldest unequivocal neopterygian fossils are known from the Early Triassic. They appear during a time when global fish faunas consisted of mostly cosmopolitan taxa, and contemporary bony fishes belonged mainly to non-neopterygian (“paleopterygian”) lineages. In the Middle Triassic (Pelsonian substage and later), less than 10 myrs (million years) after the Permian-Triassic boundary mass extinction event (PTBME), neopterygians were already species-rich and trophically diverse, and bony fish faunas were more regionally differentiated compared to the Early Triassic. Still little is known about the early evolution of neopterygians leading up to this first diversity peak. A major factor limiting our understanding of this “Triassic revolution” is an interval marked by a very poor fossil record, overlapping with the Spathian (late Olenekian, Early Triassic), Aegean (Early Anisian, Middle Triassic), and Bithynian (early Middle Anisian) substages. Here, I review the fossil record of Early and Middle Triassic marine bony fishes (Actinistia and Actinopterygii) at the substage-level in order to evaluate the impact of this hiatus–named herein the Spathian–Bithynian gap (SBG)–on our understanding of their diversification after the largest mass extinction event of the past. I propose three hypotheses: 1) the SSBE hypothesis, suggesting that most of the Middle Triassic diversity appeared in the aftermath of the Smithian-Spathian boundary extinction (SSBE; ∼2 myrs after the PTBME), 2) the Pelsonian explosion hypothesis, which states that most of the Middle Triassic ichthyodiversity is the result of a radiation event in the Pelsonian, and 3) the gradual replacement hypothesis, i.e. that the faunal turnover during the SBG was steady and bony fishes were not affected by extinction events subsequent to the PTBME. Based on current knowledge, hypothesis three is favored herein, but further studies are necessary to test alternative hypotheses. In light of the SBG, claims of a protracted diversification of bony fishes after the PTBME should be treated with caution.

scholarly journals New mid-Cretaceous cryptic slime mold beetles and the early evolution of Sphindidae (Coleoptera: Cucujoidea)

2021 ◽  
Vol 79 ◽  
pp. 587-597
Author(s):  
Yan-Da Li ◽  
Erik Tihelka ◽  
Zhen-Hua Liu ◽  
Di-Ying Huang ◽  
Chen‑Yang Cai
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Analysis ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Slime Mold ◽  
Early Evolution ◽  
Calibration Point ◽  
Crown Group ◽  
Slime Molds ◽  
The Family ◽  
Group Members

Abstract The cryptic slime mold beetles, Sphindidae, are a moderately diverse cucujoid beetle family, whose members are obligately tied to slime molds throughout their life. The fossil record of sphindid beetles is sparse; stem-sphindids and crown-group members of uncertain systematic placement have been reported from Cretaceous ambers. Here we review the Mesozoic fossil record of Sphindidae and report a new sphindid genus and species, Trematosphindus newtonigen. et sp. nov., from Albian/Cenomanian amber from northern Myanmar (ca. 99 Ma). Trematosphindus is set apart from all other sphindids by the presence of distinct lateral cavities on the anterior pronotal angles. Our phylogenetic analysis identifies Trematosphindus as an early-diverging genus within Sphindidae, sister to the remainder of the family except Protosphindus, or Protosphindus and Odontosphindus. The new fossils provide evidence that basal crown slime mold beetles begun to diversify by the mid-Cretaceous, providing a valuable calibration point for understanding timescale of sphindid co-evolution with slime molds.

Are modern chemosynthesis-based communities a ‘glimpse of antiquity’? The changing fate of bivalves and brachiopods at ancient methane seeps as recorded in the Middle Palaeozoic of Morocco

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michał Jakubowicz ◽  
Krzysztof Hryniewicz
Keyword(s):  
Middle Devonian ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Hydrothermal Vents ◽  
Upper Devonian ◽  
Early Evolution ◽  
Methane Seeps ◽  
The Past ◽  
Early Mesozoic ◽  
Morphological Adaptations ◽  
Chemosynthetic Ecosystems

<p>Despite much scientific effort aimed over the past three decades to better constrain the fossil record of chemosynthesis-based communities, our understanding of their early evolution remains fragmentary. Until recently, a dominant perception was that, unlike the Cenozoic, bivalve-dominated chemosynthetic ecosystems, the Paleozoic to mid-Mesozoic methane seeps and hydrothermal vents were dominated by brachiopods. Similarly, the pattern of brachiopod vs. bivalve predominance at seeps and vents over the Phanerozoic was believed to have crudely followed that observed in normal-marine benthic shelly assemblages. Recent discoveries from the Middle Palaeozoic of Morocco have questioned this simple perception, documenting the presence of late Silurian and Middle Devonian seeps dominated by mass accumulations of large, semi-infaunal, modiomorphid bivalves (Hryniewicz et al., 2017; Jakubowicz et al., 2017). While representing a lineage unrelated to modern seep-obligate bivalve taxa, the mid-Palaeozoic seep bivalves developed a set of morphological adaptations strikingly similar to those of their modern ecological counterparts, and formed analogous, densely-packed, nearly monospecific assemblages, both suggesting their chemosymbiotic lifestyle. The new documentation of Palaeozoic establishment of the bivalve-dominated seep communities provides a fresh look at the concept of modern chemosynthetic ecosystems as a 'glimpse of antiquity', showing that although it is largely not true taxonomically, it clearly is in terms of recurring morphological themes. At the same time, this refined Palaeozoic record makes the factors responsible for the apparent scarcity of seep-related bivalves during the upper Devonian to early Mesozoic, a period of the remarkable success of brachiopod-dominated seep assemblages, ever more enigmatic.</p>

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