Adaptive evolution toward larger size in mammals

The notion that large body size confers some intrinsic advantage to biological species has been debated for centuries. Using a phylogenetic statistical approach that allows the rate of body size evolution to vary across a phylogeny, we find a long-term directional bias toward increasing size in the mammals. This pattern holds separately in 10 of 11 orders for which sufficient data are available and arises from a tendency for accelerated rates of evolution to produce increases, but not decreases, in size. On a branch-by-branch basis, increases in body size have been more than twice as likely as decreases, yielding what amounts to millions and millions of years of rapid and repeated increases in size away from the small ancestral mammal. These results are the first evidence, to our knowledge, from extant species that are compatible with Cope’s rule: the pattern of body size increase through time observed in the mammalian fossil record. We show that this pattern is unlikely to be explained by several nonadaptive mechanisms for increasing size and most likely represents repeated responses to new selective circumstances. By demonstrating that it is possible to uncover ancient evolutionary trends from a combination of a phylogeny and appropriate statistical models, we illustrate how data from extant species can complement paleontological accounts of evolutionary history, opening up new avenues of investigation for both.

Chemostratigraphy of the Tamengo Formation (Corumba Group, Brazil) A contribution to the calibration of the Ediacaran carbon-isotope curve

The Corumba Group cropping out in the southern Paraguay Belt in Brazil is one of the most complete Ediacaran sedimentary archives of palaeogeographic climatic biogeochemical and biotic evolution in southwestern Gondwana The unit hosts a rich fossil record including acritarchs vendotaenids (Vendo taenia Eoholynia) soft-bodied metazoans (Corumbella) and skeletal fossils (Cloudina Titanotheca) The Tamengo Formation made up mainly of limestones and marls provides a rich bio- and chemostratigraphic record Several outcrops formerly assigned to the Cuiaba Group are here included in the Tamengo Formation on the basis of lithological and chemostratigraphical criteria High-resolution carbon isotopic analyses are reported for the Tamengo Formation showing (from base to top) (1) a positive delta(13)C excursion to +4 parts per thousand PDB above post-glacial negative values (2) a negative excursion to -3 5 parts per thousand associated with a marked regression and subsequent transgression (3) a positive excursion to +5 5 parts per thousand and (4) a plateau characterized by delta(13)C around +3 parts per thousand A U-Pb SHRIMP zircon age of an ash bed Interbedded in the upper part of the delta(13)C positive plateau yielded 543 +/- 3 Ma which is considered as the depositional age (Babinski et al 2008a) The positive plateau in the upper Tamengo Formation and the preceding positive excursion are ubiquitous features in several successions worldwide including the Nama Group (Namibia) the Dengying Formation (South China) and the Nafun and Ara groups (Oman) This plateau is constrained between 542 and 551 Ma thus consistent with the age of the upper Tamengo Formation The negative excursion of the lower Tamengo Formation may be correlated to the Shuram-Wonoka negative anomaly although delta(13)C values do not fall beyond -3 5 parts per thousand in the Brazilian sections Sedimentary breccias occur just beneath this negative excursion in the lower Tamengo Formation One possible interpretation of the origin of these breccias is a glacioeustatic sea-level fall but a tectonic interpretation cannot be completely ruled out Published by Elsevier B V

Frederick McCoy and the Phylum Brachiopoda

Sir Frederick McCoy, during a long career involved with taxonomy, contributed extensively to the knowledge of the fossil record of the Phylum Brachiopoda, From his classic early monographs on the fossil faunas of the Carboniferous and Silurian of Ireland, to his later works in Victoria where important new species were described and illustrated, McCoy demonstrated the same care, meticulous rigour and quality of illustrations that typified all his work. His contributions on the Brachiopoda are of high and long-lasting significance but form only part of his much broader contribution to palaeontology.

McCoy and Sarcophilus Harrisii Boitard, 1842 - A diabolical relationship

Frederick McCoy contributed to the knowledge of the fossil record of the Tasmanian Devil Sarcophilus harrisii Boitard, 1842 in Victoria by including a number of figured specimens in the Prodromus of the Palaeontology of Victoria. However, an article McCoy wrote under the pseudonym 'Microzooni highlighted his anti-Darwinian thoughts and embraced a successionist viewpoint. The article, entitled 'Pre-historic Tasmanian Devils', is an interesting account of zoogeography from a successionist perspective, and is used here to contrast McCoy's anti-evolutionary viewpoint with modern Darwinian thought. A number of fossil sarcophilines discovered since McCoy's death illustrate the shortcomings of McCoy's favoured anti-Darwinian viewpoint when discussing the nature of evolution and extinction.

Dimorphic brooding zooids in the genus Adeona Lamouroux from Australia (Bryozoa: Cheilostomata)

The genus Adeona is a characteristic and common part of the Australian shelf fauna, extending to the tropical Indo-West Pacific. The genus first appears in the fossil record of the Miocene of south-eastern Australia. Zooid dimorphism has been recognised initially from subtle differences in the external appearance, which have not been described previously. Detailed examination has shown enlarged brooding zooids with marked differences from autozooids in the internal structure of the peristomes and in the occurrence of a primary calcified orifice.

Evolution in a cold climate

A brief appraisal of marine fossils from high latitudes and episodically cold climate especially in east Australia and New Zealand during Late Palaeozoic and Early Mesozoic times shows patterns of evolution and survival that differ from those adduced for the palaeotropics and Northern Hemisphere. Examples taken from amongst phyla Scyphozoa, Bryozoa, Brachiopoda and Classes Bivalvia and Class Cephalopoda suggest these attributes:
1. Evolution and demise of species and genera proceeded at a rate close to that known for palaeotropical and Northern Hemisphere macro-invertebrates, but involved fewer families and orders.
2. Possibly, intraspecific variation was greater amongst southern palaeohemisphere Permian species than in those of the Permian palaeotropics.
3. There was no proven diminution of life at the end of the Guadalupian (Middle Permian) at southern high latitudes, where however the fossil record is meagre for this interval. Younger Wuchiapingian and Changhsingian faunas were moderately diverse.
4. There is no evidence for a high latitude Southern Hemisphere anoxic event in the Early Triassic despite claims of a world-wide anoxic interval. Nor has any substantial volcanic eruption or bolide impact left any marked traces in the sedimentary record.
5. As a consequence, some major groups such as Bryozoa and Conulariida (Staurozoa) survived the end- Permian extinction shock in the Southern Hemisphere.
6. Other major groups appear to have survived better in the south than in the north, notably, mollusc Bivalvia and Cephalopoda. It therefore appears likely that Triassic seas were restocked substantially from the Southern Hemisphere and that the Permian extinction shock was asymmetric with respect to latitudes in its distribution and affect.

Quantitative comparisons and models of time-averaging in bivalve and brachiopod shell accumulations

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Functional and historical determinants of shape in the scapula of Xenarthran mammals: Evolution of a complex morphological structure

The mammalian scapula is a complex morphological structure, composed of two ossification plates that fuse into a single structure. Most studies on morphological differentiation in the scapula have considered it to be a simple, spatially integrated structure, primarily influenced by the important locomotor function presented by this element. We used recently developed geometric morphometric techniques to test and quantify functional and phylogenetic influences on scapular shape variation in fossil and extant xenarthran mammals. The order Xenarthra is well represented in the fossil record and presents a stable phylogenetic hypothesis for its genealogical history. In addition, its species present a large variety of locomotor habits. Our results show that approximately half of the shape variation in the scapula is due to phylogenetic heritage. This is contrary to the view that the scapula is influenced only by functional demands. There are large-scale shape transformations that provide biomechanical adaptation for the several habits (arboreality, terrestriality, and digging), and small scale-shape transformations (mostly related to the coracoid process) that are not influenced by function. A nonlinear relationship between morphometric and phylogenetic distances indicates the presence of a complex mixture of evolutionary processes acting on shape differentiation of the scapula. J. Morphol. 241,251-263, 1999. (C) 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

A new genus of dipnoiformes from the Cretaceous of Brazil

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

TAXONOMY, ONTOGENY and PALEOECOLOGY of TWO SPECIES of HARBINIA TSAO, 1959 (CRUSTACEA, OSTRACODA) FROM THE SANTANA FORMATION, LOWER CRETACEOUS, NORTHEASTERN BRAZIL

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Biotic interactions recorded in shells of recent rhynchonelliform brachiopods from San Juan Island, USA

Biotic interactions between brachiopods and spionid polychaete worms, collected around San Juan Islands (USA), were documented using observations from live-collected individuals and traces of bioerosion found in dead brachiopod shells. Specimens of Terebratalia tranversa (Sowerby), Terebratulina unguicula (Carpenter), Laqueus californianus (Koch), and Hemithiris psittacea (Gmelin) were collected from rocky and muddy substrates, from sites ranging from 14.7-93.3 m in depth. Out of 1,131 specimens, 91 shells showed traces of bioerosion represented by horizontal tubes. Tubes are U-shaped, straight or slightly curved, sometimes branched, with both tube openings communicating externally. on internal surfaces of infested shells, blisters are observed. All brachiopod species yielded tubes, except for H. psittacea. Tubes are significantly more frequent on live specimens, and occur preferentially on larger, ventral valves. This pattern suggests selectivity by the infester rather than a taphonomic bias. Given the mode of life of studied brachiopods (epifaunal, sessile, attached to the substrate, lying on dorsal valve), ventral valves of living specimens should offer the most advantageous location for suspension-feeding infesters. Frequent infestation of brachiopods by parasitic spionids is ecologically and commercially noteworthy because farmed molluscs are also commonly infested by parasitic polychaetes. In addition, brachiopod shells are among the most common marine macroscopic fossils found in the Phanerozoic fossil record. From a paleontological perspective, spionid-infested brachiopod shells may be a prime target for studying parasite-host interactions over evolutionary time scales.

The temporal resolution of epibiont assemblages: Are they ecological snapshots or overexposures?

The effects of time averaging on the fossil record of soft-substrate marine faunas have been investigated in great detail, but the temporal resolution of epibiont assemblages has been inferred only from limited-duration deployment experiments. Individually dated shells provide insight into the temporal resolution of epibiont assemblages and the taphonomic history of their hosts over decades to centuries. Epibiont abundance and richness were evaluated for 86 dated valves of the rhynchonelliform brachiopod Bouchardia rosea collected from the inner shelf. Maximum abundance occurred on shells less than 400 yr old, and maximum diversity was attained within a century. Taphonomic evidence does not support models of live-host colonization, net accumulation, or erasure of epibionts over time. Encrustation appears to have occurred during a brief interval between host death and burial, with no evidence of significant recolonization of exhumed shells. Epibiont assemblages of individually dated shells preserve ecological snapshots, despite host-shell time averaging, and may record long-term ecological changes or anthropogenic environmental changes. Unless the ages of individual shells are directly estimated, however, pooling shells of different ages artificially reduces the temporal resolution of their encrusting assemblages to that of their hosts, an artifact of analytical time averaging. © 2006 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.

Metacryphaeus rotundatus, um novo elemento da fauna de trilobites calmoniidae (phacopida), da formação Ponta Grossa (Devoniano), bacia do Paraná, Brasil

Calmoniids (Delo, 1935) are the most common and abundant group of trilobites of the fossil record of the Devonian Ponta Grossa Formation in the Apucarana sub-basin. Although known since the past century, the study of calmoniids has been taxonomically and stratigraphically biased. This is because some authors centered their studies on some particular genera from a few stratigraphic horizons within the basal portion of the Ponta Grossa Formation. The analyses of 398 specimens of calmoniid trilobites of the rocks of Jaguariaiva Member of the Ponta Grossa Formation, mainly from Tibagi county in the state of Paraná, Brazil, indicate the presence of specimens that are referable to Metacryphaeus rotundatus (Kozlowski, 1923). This is the first record of M. rotundatus in Brazilian Devonian rocks. Metacryphaeus rotundatus is a conspicuous species of the Emsian rocks of the Icla Formation, Bolivia. Although the affinities of the trilobite fauna of the Devonian Paraná Basin, in the context of the Malvinokaffric realm, are with the Brazilian and South Africa provinces, this finding is in accordance with new evidence (e.g., conulariids, homalonotids trilobites), indicating the presence of cosmopolitan species with Andean affinities. Metacryphaeus rotundatus lived in a broad paleoclimatic range, from a temperate, cold temperate to a subpolar climate. Finally, in the Devonian of the Paraná Basin, M. rotundatus lived and were preserved in muddy, organic rich bottoms, deposited in offshore waters, below the storm wave base, associated to marine flooding surfaces.

Biotic interaction between spionid polychaetes and bouchardiid brachiopods: Paleoecological, taphonomic and evolutionary implications

Shells of Bouchardia rosea (Brachiopoda, Rhynchonelliformea) are abundant in Late Holocene death assemblages of the Ubatuba Bight, Brazil, SW Atlantic. This genus is also known from multiple localities in the Cenozoic fossil record of South America. A total of 1211 valves of B. rosea, 2086 shells of sympatric bivalve mollusks (14 nearshore localities ranging in depth from 0 to 30 m), 80 shells of Bouchardia zitteli, San Julián Formation, Paleogene, Argentina, and 135 shells of Bouchardia transplatina, Camacho Formation, Neogene, Uruguay were examined for bioerosion traces. All examined bouchardiid shells represent shallow-water, subtropical marine settings. Out of 1211 brachiopod shells of B. rosea, 1201 represent dead individuals. A total of 149 dead specimens displayed polychaete traces (Caulostrepsis). Live polychaetes were found inside Caulostrepsis borings in 10 life-collected brachiopods, indicating a syn-vivo interaction (Caulostrepsis traces in dead shells of B. rosea were always empty). The long and coiled peristomial palps, large chaetae on both sides of the 5th segment, and flanged pygidium found in the polychaetes are characteristic of the polychaete genus Polydora (Spionidae). The fact that 100% of the Caulostrepsis found in living brachiopods were still inhabited by the trace-making spionids, whereas none was found in dead hosts, implies active biotic interaction between the two living organisms rather than colonization of dead brachiopod shells. The absence of blisters, the lack of valve/site stereotypy, and the fact that tubes open only externally are all suggestive of a commensal relationship. These data document a new host group (bouchardiid rhynchonelliform brachiopods) with which spionids can interact (interestingly, spionid-infested sympatric bivalves have not been found in the study area despite extensive sampling). The syn-vivo interaction indicates that substantial bioerosion may occur when the host is alive. Thus, the presence of such bioerosion traces on fossil shells need not imply a prolonged post-mortem exposure of shells on the sea floor. Also, none of the Paleogene and Neogene Bouchardia species included any ichnological evidence for spionid infestation. This indicates that the Spionidae/ Bouchardia association may be geologically young, although the lack of older records may also reflect limited sampling and/or taphonomic biases.

Lower Permian stems as fluvial paleocurrent indicators of the Parnaíba Basin, northern Brazil

A comprehensive biostratinomic study was carried out with abundant stems from the Lower Permian Motuca Formation of the intracratonic Parnaíba Basin, central-north Brazil. The fossils represent a rare tropical to subtropical paleofloristic record in north Gondwana. Tree ferns dominate the assemblages (mainly Tietea, secondarily Psaronius), followed by gymnosperms, sphenophytes, other ferns and rare lycophytes. They are silica-permineralized, commonly reach 4 m length (exceptionally more than 10 m), lie loosely on the ground or are embedded in the original sandstone or siltstone matrix, and attract particular attention because of their frequent parallel attitudes. Many tree fern stems present the original straight cylindrical to slightly conical forms, other are somewhat flattened, and the gymnosperm stems are usually more irregular. Measurements of stem orientations and dimensions were made in three sites approximately aligned in a W-E direction in a distance of 27.3 km at the conservation unit Tocantins Fossil Trees Natural Monument In the eastern site, rose diagrams for 54 stems indicate a relatively narrow azimuthal range to SE. These stems commonly present attached basal bulbous root mantles and thin cylindrical sandstone envelopes, which sometimes hold, almost adjacent to the lateral stem surface, permineralized fern pinnae and other small plant fragments. In the more central site, 82 measured stems are preferentially oriented in the SW-NE direction, the proportion of gymnosperms is higher and cross-stratification sets of sandstones indicate paleocurrents mainly to NE and secondarily to SE. In the western site, most of the 42 measured stems lie in E-W positions. The predominantly sandy succession, where the fossil stems are best represented, evidences a braided fluvial system under semiarid conditions. The low plant diversity, some xeromorphic features and the supposedly almost syndepositional silica impregnation of the plants are coherent with marked dry seasons. Thick mudstones and some coquinites below and above the sandy interval may represent lacustrine facies formed in probably more humid conditions. The taphonomic history of the preserved plants began with exceptional storms that caused fast-flowing high water in channels and far into the floodplains. In the eastern site region, many tree ferns only fell, thus sometimes covering and protecting plant litter and leaves from further fragmentation. Assemblages of the central and western sites suggest that the trees were uprooted and transported in suspension (floating) parallel to the flow. Heavier ends of stems (according to their form or because of attached basal bulbous root mantle or large apical fronds) were oriented to upstream because of inertial forces. During falling water stage, the stems were stranded on riverbanks, usually maintaining the previous transport orientation, and were slightly buried. The perpendicular or oblique positions of some stems may have been caused by interference with other stems or shallow bars. Rare observed stems were apparently waterlogged before the final depositional process and transported as bedload. The differences of interpreted channel orientations between the three sites are expected in a braided fluvial system, considering the very low gradients of the basin and the work scale in the order of tens of kilometers. The mean direction of the drainage probably was to east and the flows apparently became weaker downstream. This study seems to provide reliable data for paleocurrent interpretations, especially considering areas with scarce preserved sedimentary structures. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.