A reconstruction of an evolutionary scenario for the Brachyura (Decapoda) in the Context of the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary

Brösing, Andreas

doi:10.1163/156854008783564091

Cited by 21 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Likewise, carabid beetles belonging to the granivorous tribe Harpalinae appeared during the Cretaceous between 92 and 153 Mya (Ober & Heider, ). A similar situation is seen for land crabs; Gecarcinidae, the most frequently synzoochorous crab family, appeared during the middle Eocene or even earlier during the Late Cretaceous (Brösing, ; Tsang et al ., ). This palaeontological evidence suggests three possibilities: ( i ) synzoochory was carried out exclusively by invertebrates during early geological periods; ( ii ) other now‐extinct vertebrates, perhaps including the multituberculates (Vander Wall, ), cached seeds before the origin of present‐day caching rodents and birds; or ( iii ) synzoochory has appeared more recently in old lineages.…”

Section: The Extent Of Synzoochorysupporting

confidence: 65%

Synzoochory: the ecological and evolutionary relevance of a dual interaction

2018

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Synzoochory is the dispersal of seeds by seed-caching animals. The animal partner in this interaction plays a dual role, acting both as seed disperser and seed predator. We propose that this duality gives to synzoochory two distinctive features that have crucial ecological and evolutionary consequences. First, because plants attract animals that have not only positive (seed dispersal) but also negative (seed predation) impacts on their fitness, the evolution of adaptations to synzoochory is strongly constrained. Consequently, it is not easy to identify traits that define a synzoochorous dispersal syndrome. The absence of clear adaptations entails the extra difficulty of identifying synzoochorous plants by relying on dispersal traits, limiting our ability to explore the full geographic, taxonomic and phylogenetic extent of synzoochory. Second, the positive and negative outcomes of interactions with synzoochorous animals are expressed simultaneously. Consequently, synzoochorous interactions are not exclusively mutualistic or antagonistic, but are located at some point along a mutualism-antagonism continuum. What makes synzoochory interesting and unique is that the position of each partner along the continuum can be evaluated for every plant-animal interaction, and thus the continuum can be precisely described by assessing the relative frequency of positive and negative interaction events in each pairwise interaction. Herein we explore these two main features of synzoochory with a comprehensive quantitative survey of published studies on synzoochory. Synzoochory has been recorded for at least 1339 plant species differing in life forms, from annual and short-lived herbs to long-lived trees, belonging to 641 genera and 157 families widely distributed across the globe and across the seed plant phylogeny. Over 30 animal families belonging to five disparate taxonomic groups (rodents, marsupials, birds, insects, and land crabs) potentially act as synzoochorous dispersers. Although synzoochory appears to be fundamentally a secondary dispersal mode, many abundant and dominant trees are primarily synzoochorous. In addition, we found evidence of the existence of diplosynzoochory (caching animals acting both as primary and secondary dispersers of the same individual seed), mostly in nut-bearing trees. Finally, we found that synzoochorous interactions are widely spread across the mutualism-antagonism continuum. Nevertheless, there were some differences among disperser species and functional groups. Corvids and some rodents (cricetids, nesomyids, sciurids) were located in the positive-effects region of the continuum and presumably behave mostly as dispersers, whereas land crabs and insects were located in the negative-effects extreme and behave mostly as seed predators. Our review demonstrates that synzoochory is not an anecdotal ecological interaction. Rather, it is pivotal to the functioning of many ecosystems where the natural regeneration of keystone plant species depends on the activity of granivorous animals that play a du...

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Section: The Extent Of Synzoochorysupporting

confidence: 65%

Synzoochory: the ecological and evolutionary relevance of a dual interaction

2018

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“…Three factors made the Cretaceous an extremely diverse period especially among arthropods, i.e. insects, crustaceans, chelicerates, and their relatives, a dominating group of animals in all ecosystems now and in the past: The appearance and diversification of many lineages with nowadays abundant, well-known representatives, such as ants, bees, termites, or crabs, but also of less well-known groups, such as modern-type slipper lobsters [3–9]. The survival of older groups, possessing morphologies still known from Palaeozoic times (ending ca.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A 100-million-year old predator: a fossil neuropteran larva with unusually elongated mouthparts

Haug

Müller²,

Haug

2019

Zoological Lett

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Background Biological diversity is a hot topic in current research, especially its observed decrease in modern times. Investigations of past ecosystems offer additional insights to help better understand the processes underlying biodiversity. The Cretaceous period is of special interest in this context, especially with respect to arthropods. During that period, representatives of many modern lineages appeared for the first time, while representatives of more ancient groups also co-occurred. At the same time, side branches of radiating groups with ‘experimental morphologies’ emerged that seemed to go extinct shortly afterwards. However, larval forms, with their morphological diversity, are largely neglected in such studies, but may provide important insights into morphological and ecological diversity and its changes in the past. Results We present here a new fossil insectan larva, a larval lacewing, in Cretaceous amber, exhibiting a rather unusual, ‘experimental’ morphology. The specimen possesses extremely large (in relation to body size) mandibulo-maxillary piercing stylets. Additionally, the labial palps are very long and are subdivided into numerous elements, overall appearing antenniform. In other aspects, the larva resembles many other neuropteran-type larvae. Conclusions We provide a comparison that includes quantitative aspects of different types of neuropteran larvae to emphasise the exceptionality of the new larva, and discuss its possible relationships to known lineages of Neuroptera; possible interpretations are closer relationships to Dilaridae or Osmylidae. In any case, several of the observed characters must have evolved convergently. With this new find, we expand the known morphological diversity of neuropterans in the Cretaceous fauna.

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“…Seventy-nine percent of decapod families survived into the Paleogene, and many genera were able to survive in the (sub)tropical Americas, relatively close to the Chicxulub impact site [ 89 ]. Brachyurans also appear hardly affected [ 90 ]. More regionally, 66 % of the Danian crab genera in the Denmark – Sweden region were Cretaceous survivors [ 50 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of body size, vision, and biodiversity of coral-associated organisms: evidence from fossil crustaceans in cold-water coral and tropical coral ecosystems

2016

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BackgroundModern cold-water coral and tropical coral environments harbor a highly diverse and ecologically important macrofauna of crustaceans that face elevated extinction risks due to reef decline. The effect of environmental conditions acting on decapod crustaceans comparing these two habitats is poorly understood today and in deep time. Here, we compare the biodiversity, eye socket height as a proxy for eye size, and body size of decapods in fossil cold-water and tropical reefs that formed prior to human disturbance.ResultsWe show that decapod biodiversity is higher in fossil tropical reefs from The Netherlands, Italy, and Spain compared to that of the exceptionally well-preserved Paleocene (Danian) cold-water reef/mound ecosystem from Faxe (Denmark), where decapod diversity is highest in a more heterogeneous, mixed bryozoan-coral habitat instead of in coral and bryozoan-dominated facies. The relatively low diversity at Faxe was not influenced substantially by the preceding Cretaceous/Paleogene extinction event that is not apparent in the standing diversity of decapods in our analyses, or by sampling, preservation, and/or a latitudinal diversity gradient. Instead, the lower availability of food and fewer hiding places for decapods may explain this low diversity. Furthermore, decapods from Faxe are larger than those from tropical waters for half of the comparisons, which may be caused by a lower number of predators, the delayed maturity, and the increased life span of crustaceans in deeper, colder waters. Finally, deep-water specimens of the benthic crab Caloxanthus from Faxe exhibit a larger eye socket size compared to congeneric specimens from tropical reefs, suggesting that dim light conditions favored the evolution of relatively large eyes.ConclusionsThe results suggest a strong habitat control on the biodiversity of crustaceans in coral-associated environments and that the diversity difference between deep, cold-water reefs and tropical reefs evolved at least ~63 million years ago. Futhermore, body size and vision in crustaceans evolved in response to environmental conditions in the deep sea. We highlight the usefulness of ancient reefs to study organismal evolution and ecology.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12862-016-0694-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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A reconstruction of an evolutionary scenario for the Brachyura (Decapoda) in the Context of the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary

Cited by 21 publications

References 41 publications

Synzoochory: the ecological and evolutionary relevance of a dual interaction

Synzoochory: the ecological and evolutionary relevance of a dual interaction

A 100-million-year old predator: a fossil neuropteran larva with unusually elongated mouthparts

Evolution of body size, vision, and biodiversity of coral-associated organisms: evidence from fossil crustaceans in cold-water coral and tropical coral ecosystems

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