Evolutionary trends and ecology of Mesozoic decapod crustaceans

1985 ◽  
Vol 76 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 299-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reinhard Förster
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Trace Fossils ◽  
Evolutionary Trends ◽  
Decapod Crustaceans ◽  
Gradual Reduction ◽  
Successful Method

ABSTRACTThe fossil record of unquestionable decapod remains dates back to Permo Triassic times. Evaluation of all available data from the fossil record, trace fossils and facies reveals various trends within the evolution of Mesozoic decapods, and its relation to their ecology. One of these trends is the protection of the long vulnerable abdomen. The most successful method, gradual reduction and inflection of the abdomen against the ventral cephalothorax, led to the Brachyura. Brachyurans exhibit the broadest spectrum of habitat adaptions.

Brains of early carnivores

Paleobiology ◽  
1977 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 333-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonard Radinsky
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Brain Size ◽  
Biological Significance ◽  
Evolutionary Trends ◽  
Relative Brain Size

It is commonly believed that the brains of the ancestors of modern carnivores (miacids) were superior to (e.g., larger than) those of other early carnivores (creodonts and mesonychids). Examination of the fossil record of brains of early carnivores reveals no evidence to support that belief. Moreover, evolutionary trends towards increasing relative brain size and an expansion of neocortex are seen in both miacids and creodonts. The neocortex expanded in a different way in miacids than in creodonts and mesonychids (evidenced by different sulcal patterns), but the biological significance of the observed differences is unknown.

scholarly journals Early fossil record of Euarthropoda and the Cambrian Explosion

2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (21) ◽  
pp. 5323-5331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison C. Daley ◽  
Jonathan B. Antcliffe ◽  
Harriet B. Drage ◽  
Stephen Pates
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Trace Fossils ◽  
Cambrian Explosion ◽  
Burgess Shale ◽  
Crown Group ◽  
Total Group ◽  
Stem Lineage ◽  
Coherent Picture ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Phosphate Deposits

Euarthropoda is one of the best-preserved fossil animal groups and has been the most diverse animal phylum for over 500 million years. Fossil Konservat-Lagerstätten, such as Burgess Shale-type deposits (BSTs), show the evolution of the euarthropod stem lineage during the Cambrian from 518 million years ago (Ma). The stem lineage includes nonbiomineralized groups, such as Radiodonta (e.g., Anomalocaris) that provide insight into the step-by-step construction of euarthropod morphology, including the exoskeleton, biramous limbs, segmentation, and cephalic structures. Trilobites are crown group euarthropods that appear in the fossil record at 521 Ma, before the stem lineage fossils, implying a ghost lineage that needs to be constrained. These constraints come from the trace fossil record, which show the first evidence for total group Euarthropoda (e.g., Cruziana, Rusophycus) at around 537 Ma. A deep Precambrian root to the euarthropod evolutionary lineage is disproven by a comparison of Ediacaran and Cambrian lagerstätten. BSTs from the latest Ediacaran Period (e.g., Miaohe biota, 550 Ma) are abundantly fossiliferous with algae but completely lack animals, which are also missing from other Ediacaran windows, such as phosphate deposits (e.g., Doushantuo, 560 Ma). This constrains the appearance of the euarthropod stem lineage to no older than 550 Ma. While each of the major types of fossil evidence (BSTs, trace fossils, and biomineralized preservation) have their limitations and are incomplete in different ways, when taken together they allow a coherent picture to emerge of the origin and subsequent radiation of total group Euarthropoda during the Cambrian.

scholarly journals Naticid gastropod and octopodid cephalopod predatory traces: evidence of drill holes on the leucosid crab Ristoria pliocaenica (Ristori, 1891), from the Pliocene of the “La Serra” quarry (Tuscany, Italy)

10.4081/19 ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 153 (2) ◽  
pp. 257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Pasini ◽  
Alessandro Garassino
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Decapod Crustaceans ◽  
Early Pliocene ◽  
First Report ◽  
Predatory Activity ◽  
The Common ◽  
Drill Holes

Garassino<em> et al.</em> (2012) reported on a rich community of decapod crustaceans including axiideans, gebiideans, anomurans, and brachyurans from the Zanclean (Early Pliocene) of the “La Serra” quarry near San Miniato (Pisa, Tuscany, central Italy). In this decapod-rich assemblage some carapaces of the common pebble crab<em> Ristoria pliocaenica</em> (Ristori, 1891) (<em>Leucosiidae Samouelle</em>, 1819) are drilled in characteristic ways, due to the predatory activity of individuals belonging to two different taxa of marine clades, possibly naticids (Gastropoda, Naticoidea), and to octopodids (Cephalopoda, Octopoda). This is the first report of direct evidence of predation by cephalopods on crabs in the fossil record.

Trace Fossils in Quaternary, Bahamian-Style Carbonate Environments: The Modern to Fossil Transition

1992 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 105-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Allen Curran
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Trace Fossils ◽  
Subtidal Zone ◽  
Carbonate Sediments ◽  
Shallow Marine ◽  
Shallow Subtidal ◽  
Dominant Process ◽  
Burrowing Activity

Tracemaking organisms are common and diverse components of the fauna and flora of tropical, shallow-marine and coastal carbonate environments. In the shallow subtidal zone, the burrowing activity of callianassid shrimp commonly is the dominant process in the modification of original depositional fabrics (Tudhope and Scoffin, 1984; Tedesco and Wanless, 1991). Both borers and burrowers have great potential to leave their mark in tropical carbonate sediments and rocks and to become part of the fossil record.

scholarly journals Tetraliidae and Trapeziidae (Crustacea, Decapoda, Brachyura) from the Early Eocene of Monte Magrè (Vicenza, NE Italy)

2013 ◽  
Vol 154 (1) ◽  
pp. 25
Author(s):  
Antonio De Angeli ◽  
Loris Ceccon
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Early Eocene ◽  
Decapod Crustaceans ◽  
Ne Italy ◽  
Late Ypresian

The decapod crustaceans of the families Tetraliidae and Trapeziidae from the Early Eocene (middle-late Ypresian) of Monte Magrè (Schio, Vicenza, NE Italy), are described. The specimens are assigned to <em>Eurotetralia loerenthey</em> (Müller, 1975) n. gen., <em>Tetralia vicetina</em> n. sp. (Tetraliidae Castro, Ng &amp; Ahyong, 2004); <em>Archaeotetra lessinea</em> n. sp., <em>Eomaldivia trispinosa</em> Müller &amp; Collins, 1991, <em>Paratetralia convexa</em> Beschin, Busulini, De Angeli &amp; Tessier, 2007, and <em>Paratetralia sulcata</em> n. sp. (Trapeziidae Miers, 1886).<br />The specimens were discovered associated with other decapods, in the coral-rich limestone. This report is the oldest fossil record of both two families. The stratigraphical distribution of the Tetraliidae and Trapeziidae is extended back to the middle-late Ypresian.

Paleobiology of firmground burrowers and cryptobionts at a Miocene omission surface, Alcoi, SE Spain

2016 ◽  
Vol 90 (4) ◽  
pp. 721-733 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zain Belaústegui ◽  
Allan A. Ekdale ◽  
Rosa Domènech ◽  
Jordi Martinell
Keyword(s):  
Benthic Community ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Trace Fossils ◽  
Type Locality ◽  
Se Spain ◽  
First Report ◽  
Southeastern Spain

AbstractA well-preserved omission surface (sedimentary discontinuity) in an outcrop near Alcoi in southeastern Spain displays trace fossils and body fossils that reflect a dynamic benthic community during the Miocene (Langhian–Tortonian). This outcrop, besides being the type locality of Spongeliomorpha iberica Saporta, 1887, exhibits other abundant trace fossils, such as Glossifungites saxicava Łomnicki, 1886 and Gastrochaenolites ornatus Kelly and Bromley, 1984. These trace fossils are restricted to a single stratigraphic horizon and constitute a typical firmground ichnoassemblage of the Glossifungites ichnofacies. The interiors of some of the Glossifungites and Spongeliomorpha burrows were occupied by encrusting balanomorph barnacles (Actinobalanus dolosus Darwin, 1854). This paper is the first report of cryptic barnacles colonizing the interior of open burrows that constitute a typical firmground ichnocoenose in the fossil record. Detailed ichnologic study demonstrates that the ichnospecies Glossifungites saxicava stands as a valid ichnotaxon and is not a synonym of the ichnogenus Rhizocorallium, as has been suggested by some previous workers.

Cephalopods: biasing agents in the preservation of lobsters

1989 ◽  
Vol 63 (5) ◽  
pp. 621-626 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dale M. Tshudy ◽  
Rodney M. Feldmann ◽  
Peter D. Ward
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Specific Pattern ◽  
Decapod Crustaceans ◽  
Connective Tissues ◽  
Selective Preservation ◽  
Range Of Variation

Modern Nautilus, in natural and laboratory settings, scavenges both dead and molted decapod crustaceans. Ingestion of palinurid lobster exuviae by Nautilus follows a specific pattern in which the cephalopod consumes the exoskeleton beginning at the posteriormost part of the abdomen and continuing anteriorly. During the ingestion process, the cephalothorax is least likely to be consumed, either because the Nautilus may abandon the remains, or the cephalothorax may become separated from the abdomen at its weakest point, the articulation of the cephalothorax with the abdomen. Examination of 767 fossil lobster specimens from 50 formations, 41 of Cretaceous age, demonstrates that the fossil record of lobsters, the preponderance of which appear to be exuviae, is strongly biased in favor of cephalothoraxes. Observations on Nautilus suggest that anatomically selective scavenging by ancient cephalopods, both nautiloids and ammonoids, may explain, in part, the selective preservation of lobster cephalothoraxes over abdomens. Despite the range of variation in jaw morphologies among ammonoids, probably most could have fragmented and ingested decapod remains. Evidence for selective scavenging in the geologic past is purely circumstantial; no cephalopod bitemarks have been identified on fossil lobster exuviae. Pre-burial decomposition of connective tissues and subsequent disarticulation of the abdomen in the absence of scavenging may also have contributed significantly to the observed anatomical taphonomic bias.

scholarly journals Sedimentology and ichnology of the mid-Cretaceous succession of Ouled Nail Mounts (Eastern Saharan Atlas, Algeria)

2021 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
pp. 209-223
Author(s):  
Mohammed Nadir Naimi ◽  
◽  
Amine Cherif ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Trace Fossils ◽  
Decapod Crustaceans ◽  
Shallow Marine ◽  
Marine Deposits ◽  
Northern Algeria ◽  
Continental Intercalaire ◽  
Lowermost Part ◽  
Maximum Flooding Surface ◽  
Glossifungites Ichnofacies

Shallow marine deposits characterize the upper Albian – lower Cenomanian deposits of Northern Algeria. In Djebel Azzeddine (Ouled Nail Mounts), the corresponding sediments have been subdivided into three distinctive units A to C. The first discovered ammonite fauna from the Bou Saada area allowed the attribution of a part of the mid-Cretaceous post-Continental Intercalaire deposits to the upper Albian. The ammonite-bearing level indicates a maximum flooding surface and could be correlated with similar levels from Northern Algeria. The studied succession is characterized by a low ichnodiversity containing eight ichnotaxa with abundant Thalassinoides, common Skolithos, and rare Gyrolithes, Oichnus, Planolites and cf. Tisoa. This ichnoassemblage is dominated by domichnion, fodinichnion and praedichnion trace fossils, and is attributed to the Skolithos and Glossifungites ichnofacies. These traces are produced mainly by decapod crustaceans, polychaetes and naticid gastropods. The sedimentological and ichnological data suggest shoreface to backshore environments with mixed tide/storm energy, and long subaerial exposures indicated by Lofer cyclothems in the lowermost part and dinosaur footprints in the upper part of the section.

scholarly journals Interpreting ecology and physiology of fossil decapod crustaceans

2003 ◽  
Vol 72 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 111-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodney M. Feldmann
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Behavioral Responses ◽  
Behavioral Characteristics ◽  
Tissue Preservation ◽  
Aquatic Habitats ◽  
Decapod Crustaceans ◽  
Life Styles ◽  
Morphological Variants ◽  
Diversity Of Life ◽  
Vast Range

Decapods are the most diverse and complex group of crustaceans, adapted for life in all parts of the marine environment, many aquatic habitats, and some terrestrial niches. With this diversity of life styles, a vast range of morphotypes of decapods has evolved, exploiting almost every imaginable variation in morphology of the complex exoskeleton that characterizes them. Many of the morphological variants are a response to exploiting a particular niche in which the organisms live or an adaptation to particular behavioral characteristics. Assessing the significance of morphological variation in the fossil record is challenging because of the taphonomic overprint that results in loss of soft tissue, preservation of partial remains of hard parts, and vastly reduced numbers of preserved individuals as contrasted to the once-living population. The purpose of the present paper is to identify aspects of morphology that may be useful in interpreting the behavioral responses of the organism to its environment, with primary emphasis on morphological features of the exoskeleton that are not expressed on all individuals but that occur at low, and unpredictable, frequencies.

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