scholarly journals The fossil record and macroevolutionary history of the beetles

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1805) ◽  
pp. 20150060 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dena M. Smith ◽  
Jonathan D. Marcot
Keyword(s):  
Early Cretaceous ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Diversification Rate ◽  
Extinction Rate ◽  
Diverse Group ◽  
Taxonomic Richness ◽  
Lacustrine Deposits ◽  
Family Level ◽  
History Of

Coleoptera (beetles) is the most species-rich metazoan order, with approximately 380 000 species. To understand how they came to be such a diverse group, we compile a database of global fossil beetle occurrences to study their macroevolutionary history. Our database includes 5553 beetle occurrences from 221 fossil localities. Amber and lacustrine deposits preserve most of the beetle diversity and abundance. All four extant suborders are found in the fossil record, with 69% of all beetle families and 63% of extant beetle families preserved. Considerable focus has been placed on beetle diversification overall, however, for much of their evolutionary history it is the clade Polyphaga that is most responsible for their taxonomic richness. Polyphaga had an increase in diversification rate in the Early Cretaceous, but instead of being due to the radiation of the angiosperms, this was probably due to the first occurrences of beetle-bearing amber deposits in the record. Perhaps, most significant is that polyphagan beetles had a family-level extinction rate of zero for most of their evolutionary history, including across the Cretaceous–Palaeogene boundary. Therefore, focusing on the factors that have inhibited beetle extinction, as opposed to solely studying mechanisms that may promote speciation, should be examined as important determinants of their great diversity today.

scholarly journals New fossils of Jurassic ophiurid brittle stars (Ophiuroidea; Ophiurida) provide evidence for early clade evolution in the deep sea

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Thuy ◽  
Lea D. Numberger-Thuy ◽  
Tania Pineda-Enriquez
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Analysis ◽  
New Taxa ◽  
Deep Sea ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Lower Jurassic ◽  
Brittle Stars ◽  
Family Level ◽  
History Of ◽  
Basal Position

Understanding of the evolutionary history of the ophiuroids, or brittle stars, is hampered by a patchy knowledge of the fossil record. Especially the stem members of the living clades are poorly known, resulting in blurry concepts of the early clade evolution and imprecise estimates of divergence ages. Here, we describe new ophiuroid fossil from the Lower Jurassic of France, Luxembourg, and Austria and introduce the new taxa Ophiogojira labadiei gen. et sp. nov. from lower Pliensbachian shallow sublittoral deposits, Ophiogojira andreui gen. et sp. nov. from lower Toarcian shallow sublittoral deposits, and Ophioduplantiera noctiluca gen. et sp. nov. from late Sinemurian to lower Pliensbachian bathyal deposits. A Bayesian morphological phylogenetic analysis shows that Ophiogojira holds a basal position within the order Ophiurida, whereas Ophioduplantiera has a more crownward position within the ophiurid family Ophiuridae. The position of Ophioduplantiera in the evolutionary tree suggests that family-level divergences within the Ophiurida must have occurred before the late Sinemurian, and that ancient slope environments played an important role in fostering early clade evolution.

scholarly journals New fossils of Jurassic ophiurid brittle stars (Ophiuroidea; Ophiurida) provide evidence for early clade evolution in the deep sea

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 210643
Author(s):  
Ben Thuy ◽  
Lea D. Numberger-Thuy ◽  
Tania Pineda-Enríquez
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Analysis ◽  
New Taxa ◽  
Deep Sea ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Lower Jurassic ◽  
Brittle Stars ◽  
Family Level ◽  
History Of ◽  
Basal Position

Understanding of the evolutionary history of the ophiuroids, or brittle stars, is hampered by a patchy knowledge of the fossil record. Especially, the stem members of the living clades are poorly known, resulting in blurry concepts of the early clade evolution and imprecise estimates of divergence ages. Here, we describe new ophiuroid fossil from the Lower Jurassic of France, Luxembourg and Austria and introduce the new taxa Ophiogojira labadiei gen. et sp. nov. from lower Pliensbachian shallow sublittoral deposits, Ophiogojira andreui gen. et sp. nov. from lower Toarcian shallow sublittoral deposits and Ophioduplantiera noctiluca gen. et sp. nov. from late Sinemurian to lower Pliensbachian bathyal deposits. A Bayesian morphological phylogenetic analysis shows that Ophiogojira holds a basal position within the order Ophiurida, whereas Ophioduplantiera has a more crownward position within the ophiurid family Ophiuridae. The position of Ophioduplantiera in the evolutionary tree suggests that family-level divergences within the Ophiurida must have occurred before the late Sinemurian, and that ancient slope environments played an important role in fostering early clade evolution.

A fossil record of land plant origins from charophyte algae

Science ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 373 (6556) ◽  
pp. 792-796 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul K. Strother ◽  
Clinton Foster
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Phylogenetic Signal ◽  
Land Plant ◽  
Fossil Plants ◽  
Fossil Plant ◽  
Molecular Phylogenetic ◽  
History Of ◽  
Time Gap ◽  
Evolutionary Continuity

Molecular time trees indicating that embryophytes originated around 500 million years ago (Ma) during the Cambrian are at odds with the record of fossil plants, which first appear in the mid-Silurian almost 80 million years later. This time gap has been attributed to a missing fossil plant record, but that attribution belies the case for fossil spores. Here, we describe a Tremadocian (Early Ordovician, about 480 Ma) assemblage with elements of both Cambrian and younger embryophyte spores that provides a new level of evolutionary continuity between embryophytes and their algal ancestors. This finding suggests that the molecular phylogenetic signal retains a latent evolutionary history of the acquisition of the embryophytic developmental genome, a history that perhaps began during Ediacaran-Cambrian time but was not completed until the mid-Silurian (about 430 Ma).

scholarly journals Experimental degradation of helicoidal photonic nanostructures in scarab beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae): implications for the identification of circularly polarizing cuticle in the fossil record

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (148) ◽  
pp. 20180560 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giliane P. Odin ◽  
Maria E. McNamara ◽  
Hans Arwin ◽  
Kenneth Järrendahl
Keyword(s):  
Uric Acid ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Polarized Light ◽  
Circularly Polarized Light ◽  
Circularly Polarized ◽  
Alkaline Conditions ◽  
History Of ◽  
Diagenetic History ◽  
Scarab Beetles

Scarab beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) can exhibit striking colours produced by pigments and/or nanostructures. The latter include helicoidal (Bouligand) structures that can generate circularly polarized light. These have a cryptic evolutionary history in part because fossil examples are unknown. This suggests either a real biological signal, i.e. that Bouligand structures did not evolve until recently, or a taphonomic signal, i.e. that conditions during the fossilization process were not conducive to their preservation. We address this issue by experimentally degrading circularly polarizing cuticle of modern scarab beetles to test the relative roles of decay, maturation and taxonomy in controlling preservation. The results reveal that Bouligand structures have the potential to survive fossilization, but preservation is controlled by taxonomy and the diagenetic history of specimens. Further, cuticle of specific genus ( Chrysina ) is particularly decay-prone in alkaline conditions; this may relate to the presence of certain compounds, e.g. uric acid, in the cuticle of these taxa.

scholarly journals A comparative atlas of the skull osteology of European lizards (Reptilia: Squamata)

2019 ◽  
Vol 187 (3) ◽  
pp. 829-928 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Villa ◽  
Massimo Delfino
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
European Species ◽  
History Of ◽  
Diagnostic Key ◽  
Single Bone ◽  
Fossil Lizards ◽  
Bone Remains ◽  
Comparative Osteology ◽  
Broad Scale

Abstract The fossil record provides evidence of a long evolutionary history of European lizards. Since fossil lizards are regularly represented by bone remains, the knowledge of the origins of extant taxa and their distribution in time and space is hindered by the fact that their comparative osteology is not yet completely and adequately known. In spite of a rising interest in this topic since the end of the 20th century, a gap in our knowledge is still evident. We here report the first broad-scale comparative osteological analysis of the skulls of extant European lizards, highlighting significant differences that can be used in identification. This comparative study, including as many European species as possible, leads to the creation of a detailed diagnostic key for each single bone. Also, our data significantly improve the recognizability of extant European non-snake squamates, with 54% of the current diversity to be recognized based on the new results contra the previously estimated 31%. This recognizability is expected to further increase in the future, with new studies focusing on species that are either missing or poorly represented here, or applying promising advanced methodologies.

Ontogeny in the fossil record: diversification of body plans and the evolution of “aberrant” symmetry in Paleozoic echinoderms

Paleobiology ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 149-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin D. Sumrall ◽  
Gregory A. Wray
Keyword(s):  
Great Reduction ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Total Loss ◽  
Cambrian Explosion ◽  
Growth Stages ◽  
Ecological Constraints ◽  
Fivefold Symmetry ◽  
Primary Body ◽  
History Of

Echinoderms have long been characterized by the presence of ambulacra that exhibit pentaradiate symmetry and define five primary body axes. In reality, truly pentaradial ambulacral symmetry is a condition derived only once in the evolutionary history of echinoderms and is restricted to eleutherozoans, the clade that contains most living echinoderm species. In contrast, early echinoderms have a bilaterally symmetrical 2-1-2 arrangement, with three ambulacra radiating from the mouth. Branching of the two side ambulacra during ontogeny produces the five adult rays. During the Cambrian Explosion and Ordovician Radiation, some 30 clades of echinoderms evolved, many of which have aberrant ambulacral systems with one to four rays. Unfortunately, no underlying model has emerged that explains ambulacral homologies among disparate forms. Here we show that most Paleozoic echinoderms are characterized by uniquely identifiable ambulacra that develop in three distinct postlarval stages. Nearly all “aberrant” echinoderm morphologies can be explained by the paedomorphic ambulacra reduction (PAR) model through the loss of some combination of these growth stages during ontogeny. Superficially similar patterns of ambulacral reduction in distantly related clades have resulted from the parallel loss of homologous ambulacra during ontogeny. Pseudo-fivefold symmetry seen in Blastoidea and the true fivefold symmetry seen in Eleutherozoa result from great reduction and total loss, respectively, of the 2–1–2 symmetry early in ontogeny. These ambulacral variations suggest that both developmental and ecological constraints affect the evolution of novel echinoderm body plans.

scholarly journals Environmental drivers of crocodyliform extinction across the Jurassic/Cretaceous transition

2016 ◽  
Vol 283 (1826) ◽  
pp. 20152840 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan P. Tennant ◽  
Philip D. Mannion ◽  
Paul Upchurch
Keyword(s):  
Early Cretaceous ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Comprehensive Analysis ◽  
Environmental Drivers ◽  
Likelihood Methods ◽  
Extinction Rates ◽  
Maximum Likelihood Methods ◽  
Ecological Pressure ◽  
Biodiversity Decline

Crocodyliforms have a much richer evolutionary history than represented by their extant descendants, including several independent marine and terrestrial radiations during the Mesozoic. However, heterogeneous sampling of their fossil record has obscured their macroevolutionary dynamics, and obfuscated attempts to reconcile external drivers of these patterns. Here, we present a comprehensive analysis of crocodyliform biodiversity through the Jurassic/Cretaceous (J/K) transition using subsampling and phylogenetic approaches and apply maximum-likelihood methods to fit models of extrinsic variables to assess what mediated these patterns. A combination of fluctuations in sea-level and episodic perturbations to the carbon and sulfur cycles was primarily responsible for both a marine and non-marine crocodyliform biodiversity decline through the J/K boundary, primarily documented in Europe. This was tracked by high extinction rates at the boundary and suppressed origination rates throughout the Early Cretaceous. The diversification of Eusuchia and Notosuchia likely emanated from the easing of ecological pressure resulting from the biodiversity decline, which also culminated in the extinction of the marine thalattosuchians in the late Early Cretaceous. Through application of rigorous techniques for estimating biodiversity, our results demonstrate that it is possible to tease apart the complex array of controls on diversification patterns in major archosaur clades.

scholarly journals Diversification events and the effects of mass extinctions on Crocodyliformes evolutionary history

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (5) ◽  
pp. 140385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario Bronzati ◽  
Felipe C. Montefeltro ◽  
Max C. Langer
Keyword(s):  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Continuous Process ◽  
Mass Extinctions ◽  
Terrestrial Habitats ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Rich ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Diversification Event

The rich fossil record of Crocodyliformes shows a much greater diversity in the past than today in terms of morphological disparity and occupation of niches. We conducted topology-based analyses seeking diversification shifts along the evolutionary history of the group. Our results support previous studies, indicating an initial radiation of the group following the Triassic/Jurassic mass extinction, here assumed to be related to the diversification of terrestrial protosuchians, marine thalattosuchians and semi-aquatic lineages within Neosuchia. During the Cretaceous, notosuchians embodied a second diversification event in terrestrial habitats and eusuchian lineages started diversifying before the end of the Mesozoic. Our results also support previous arguments for a minor impact of the Cretaceous/Palaeogene mass extinction on the evolutionary history of the group. This argument is not only based on the information from the fossil record, which shows basal groups surviving the mass extinction and the decline of other Mesozoic lineages before the event, but also by the diversification event encompassing only the alligatoroids in the earliest period after the extinction. Our results also indicate that, instead of a continuous process through time, Crocodyliformes diversification was patchy, with events restricted to specific subgroups in particular environments and time intervals.

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