1
|
Flannery-Sutherland JT, Crossan CD, Myers CE, Hendy AJW, Landman NH, Witts JD. Late Cretaceous ammonoids show that drivers of diversification are regionally heterogeneous. Nat Commun 2024; 15:5382. [PMID: 38937471 PMCID: PMC11211348 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-49462-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2024] [Accepted: 06/05/2024] [Indexed: 06/29/2024] Open
Abstract
Palaeontologists have long sought to explain the diversification of individual clades to whole biotas at global scales. Advances in our understanding of the spatial distribution of the fossil record through geological time, however, has demonstrated that global trends in biodiversity were a mosaic of regionally heterogeneous diversification processes. Drivers of diversification must presumably have also displayed regional variation to produce the spatial disparities observed in past taxonomic richness. Here, we analyse the fossil record of ammonoids, pelagic shelled cephalopods, through the Late Cretaceous, characterised by some palaeontologists as an interval of biotic decline prior to their total extinction at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. We regionally subdivide this record to eliminate the impacts of spatial sampling biases and infer regional origination and extinction rates corrected for temporal sampling biases using Bayesian methods. We then model these rates using biotic and abiotic drivers commonly inferred to influence diversification. Ammonoid diversification dynamics and responses to this common set of diversity drivers were regionally heterogeneous, do not support ecological decline, and demonstrate that their global diversification signal is influenced by spatial disparities in sampling effort. These results call into question the feasibility of seeking drivers of diversity at global scales in the fossil record.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Joseph T Flannery-Sutherland
- School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Science, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
- Palaeobiology Research Group, School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
| | - Cameron D Crossan
- Palaeobiology Research Group, School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Corinne E Myers
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
| | - Austin J W Hendy
- Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Neil H Landman
- Division of Paleontology (Invertebrates), American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA
| | - James D Witts
- Palaeobiology Research Group, School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, UK
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Delicado D, Hauffe T, Wilke T. Fifth mass extinction event triggered the diversification of the largest family of freshwater gastropods (Caenogastropoda: Truncatelloidea: Hydrobiidae). Cladistics 2024; 40:82-96. [PMID: 37712584 DOI: 10.1111/cla.12558] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2023] [Revised: 08/09/2023] [Accepted: 08/21/2023] [Indexed: 09/16/2023] Open
Abstract
The fifth mass extinction event (MEE) at the Cretaceous-Palaeogene (K-Pg) boundary 66 million years ago (Ma) led to massive species loss but also triggered the diversification of higher taxa. Five models have been proposed depending on whether this diversification occurred before, during or after the K-Pg boundary and the rate of species accumulation. While the effects of the K-Pg MEE on vertebrate evolution are relatively well understood, the impact on invertebrates, particularly in freshwater ecosystems, remains controversial. One example is the hyperdiverse Hydrobiidae-the most species-rich family of freshwater gastropods. Whereas some studies place its origin in the Jurassic or even Carboniferous, most fossil records postdate the K-Pg event. We therefore used robustly time-calibrated multi-locus phylogenies of >400 species representing >100 hydrobiid genera to unravel its evolutionary history and patterns of diversification. We found that the family started diversifying shortly after the K-Pg boundary (∼60 Ma; 95% highest posterior density 52-69 Ma). Lineage richness gradually increased to the present and phylogenetic diversity until ∼25 Ma. These findings suggest that diversification was not initially driven by ecological opportunity. Combining the two criteria of timing and rate of diversification, a soft-explosive diversification model of aquatic vertebrates best fits the patterns observed. We also show that most higher hydrobiid taxa (i.e. subfamilies) diversified from the Middle Oligocene to Middle Miocene (i.e. 12-28 Ma). Two of the 15 major clades delimited are described here as new subfamilies (i.e. Bullaregiinae n. subfam. and Pontobelgrandiellinae n. subfam.), whose members are restricted to subterranean waters. Our results are an important contribution to understanding how the fifth MEE has shaped evolution and patterns of biodiversity in continental aquatic systems. Given the high extinction risks faced by many hydrobiids today, they also emphasise the need to study the biodiversity of vulnerable ecosystems.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Diana Delicado
- Animal Ecology and Systematics, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 26-32 (IFZ), D-35392, Giessen, Germany
| | - Torsten Hauffe
- Department of Biology, University of Fribourg and Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Chemin du Musée 10, CH-1700, Fribourg, Switzerland
| | - Thomas Wilke
- Animal Ecology and Systematics, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 26-32 (IFZ), D-35392, Giessen, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Lemanis R, Zlotnikov I. Fractal-like geometry as an evolutionary response to predation? SCIENCE ADVANCES 2023; 9:eadh0480. [PMID: 37494450 PMCID: PMC10371019 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adh0480] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2023] [Accepted: 06/26/2023] [Indexed: 07/28/2023]
Abstract
Fractal-like, intricate morphologies are known to exhibit beneficial mechanical behavior in various engineering and technological domains. The evolution of fractal-like, internal walls of ammonoid cephalopod shells represent one of the most clear evolutionary trends toward complexity in biology, but the driver behind their iterative evolution has remained unanswered since the first hypotheses introduced in the early 1800s. We show a clear correlation between the fractal-like morphology and structural stability. Using linear and nonlinear computational mechanical simulations, we demonstrate that the increase in the complexity of septal geometry leads to a substantial increase in the mechanical stability of the entire shell. We hypothesize that the observed tendency is a driving force toward the evolution of the higher complexity of ammonoid septa, providing the animals with superior structural support and protection against predation. Resolving the adaptational value of this unique trait is vital to fully comprehend the intricate evolutionary trends between morphology, ecological shifts, and mass extinctions through Earth's history.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Robert Lemanis
- />BCUBE - Center for Molecular Bioengineering, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden 01307, Germany
| | - Igor Zlotnikov
- />BCUBE - Center for Molecular Bioengineering, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden 01307, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Peterman DJ, Ritterbush KA. Resurrecting extinct cephalopods with biomimetic robots to explore hydrodynamic stability, maneuverability, and physical constraints on life habits. Sci Rep 2022; 12:11287. [PMID: 35787639 PMCID: PMC9253093 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-13006-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2022] [Accepted: 05/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Externally shelled cephalopods with coiled, planispiral conchs were ecologically successful for hundreds of millions of years. These animals displayed remarkable morphological disparity, reflecting comparable differences in physical properties that would have constrained their life habits and ecological roles. To investigate these constraints, self-propelling, neutrally buoyant, biomimetic robots were 3D-printed for four disparate morphologies. These robots were engineered to assume orientations computed from virtual hydrostatic simulations while producing Nautilus-like thrusts. Compressed morphotypes had improved hydrodynamic stability (coasting efficiency) and experienced lower drag while jetting backwards. However, inflated morphotypes had improved maneuverability while rotating about the vertical axis. These differences highlight an inescapable physical tradeoff between hydrodynamic stability and yaw maneuverability, illuminating different functional advantages and life-habit constraints across the cephalopod morphospace. This tradeoff reveals there is no single optimum conch morphology, and elucidates the success and iterative evolution of disparate morphologies through deep time, including non-streamlined forms.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- David J Peterman
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
| | | |
Collapse
|
5
|
Hoffmann R, Slattery JS, Kruta I, Linzmeier BJ, Lemanis RE, Mironenko A, Goolaerts S, De Baets K, Peterman DJ, Klug C. Recent advances in heteromorph ammonoid palaeobiology. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2021; 96:576-610. [PMID: 33438316 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12669] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2020] [Revised: 11/03/2020] [Accepted: 11/06/2020] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
Heteromorphs are ammonoids forming a conch with detached whorls (open coiling) or non-planispiral coiling. Such aberrant forms appeared convergently four times within this extinct group of cephalopods. Since Wiedmann's seminal paper in this journal, the palaeobiology of heteromorphs has advanced substantially. Combining direct evidence from their fossil record, indirect insights from phylogenetic bracketing, and physical as well as virtual models, we reach an improved understanding of heteromorph ammonoid palaeobiology. Their anatomy, buoyancy, locomotion, predators, diet, palaeoecology, and extinction are discussed. Based on phylogenetic bracketing with nautiloids and coleoids, heteromorphs like other ammonoids had 10 arms, a well-developed brain, lens eyes, a buccal mass with a radula and a smaller upper as well as a larger lower jaw, and ammonia in their soft tissue. Heteromorphs likely lacked arm suckers, hooks, tentacles, a hood, and an ink sac. All Cretaceous heteromorphs share an aptychus-type lower jaw with a lamellar calcitic covering. Differences in radular tooth morphology and size in heteromorphs suggest a microphagous diet. Stomach contents of heteromorphs comprise planktic crustaceans, gastropods, and crinoids, suggesting a zooplanktic diet. Forms with a U-shaped body chamber (ancylocone) are regarded as suspension feeders, whereas orthoconic forms additionally might have consumed benthic prey. Heteromorphs could achieve near-neutral buoyancy regardless of conch shape or ontogeny. Orthoconic heteromorphs likely had a vertical orientation, whereas ancylocone heteromorphs had a near-horizontal aperture pointing upwards. Heteromorphs with a U-shaped body chamber are more stable hydrodynamically than modern Nautilus and were unable substantially to modify their orientation by active locomotion, i.e. they had no or limited access to benthic prey at adulthood. Pathologies reported for heteromorphs were likely inflicted by crustaceans, fish, marine reptiles, and other cephalopods. Pathologies on Ptychoceras corroborates an external shell and rejects the endocochleate hypothesis. Devonian, Triassic, and Jurassic heteromorphs had a preference for deep-subtidal to offshore facies but are rare in shallow-subtidal, slope, and bathyal facies. Early Cretaceous heteromorphs preferred deep-subtidal to bathyal facies. Late Cretaceous heteromorphs are common in shallow-subtidal to offshore facies. Oxygen isotope data suggest rapid growth and a demersal habitat for adult Discoscaphites and Baculites. A benthic embryonic stage, planktic hatchlings, and a habitat change after one whorl is proposed for Hoploscaphites. Carbon isotope data indicate that some Baculites lived throughout their lives at cold seeps. Adaptation to a planktic life habit potentially drove selection towards smaller hatchlings, implying high fecundity and an ecological role of the hatchlings as micro- and mesoplankton. The Chicxulub impact at the Cretaceous/Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary 66 million years ago is the likely trigger for the extinction of ammonoids. Ammonoids likely persisted after this event for 40-500 thousand years and are exclusively represented by heteromorphs. The ammonoid extinction is linked to their small hatchling sizes, planktotrophic diets, and higher metabolic rates than in nautilids, which survived the K/Pg mass extinction event.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- René Hoffmann
- Institut für Geologie, Mineralogie und Geophysik, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, 44801, Germany
| | - Joshua S Slattery
- School of Geosciences, University of South Florida, 4202 East Fowler Ave., NES 107, Tampa, FL, 33620, U.S.A
| | - Isabelle Kruta
- CR2P - Centre de Recherche en Paléntologie - Paris, UMR 7207, Sorbonne Université-MNHN-CNRS, 4 place Jussieu, case 104, Paris, 75005, France
| | - Benjamin J Linzmeier
- Department of Geoscience, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI, 53706, U.S.A
| | - Robert E Lemanis
- B CUBE - Center for Molecular Bioengineering, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, 01307, Germany
| | | | - Stijn Goolaerts
- OD Earth & History of Life, and Scientific Service Heritage, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Vautierstraat 29, Brussels, B-1000, Belgium
| | - Kenneth De Baets
- GeoZentrum Nordbayern, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, 91054, Germany
| | - David J Peterman
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Wright State University, 3640 Colonel Glenn Highway, Dayton, OH, 45435, U.S.A
| | - Christian Klug
- Paläontologisches Institut und Museum, Universität Zürich, Karl-Schmid-Strasse 4, Zürich, 8006, Switzerland
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Witts JD, Landman NH, Garb MP, Irizarry KM, Larina E, Thibault N, Razmjooei MJ, Yancey TE, Myers CE. Cephalopods from the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) Boundary Interval on the Brazos River, Texas, and Extinction of the Ammonites. AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITATES 2021. [DOI: 10.1206/3964.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- James D. Witts
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico
| | - Neil H. Landman
- Division of Paleontology (Invertebrates), American Museum of Natural History, New York
| | - Matthew P. Garb
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Brooklyn College, New York
| | - Kayla M. Irizarry
- Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania
| | - Ekaterina Larina
- University of Southern California, Department of Earth Sciences, Los Angeles, California
| | - Nicolas Thibault
- Department of Geosciences and Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Mohammad J. Razmjooei
- Department of Geosciences and Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Thomas E. Yancey
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas
| | - Corinne E. Myers
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Peterman DJ, Mikami T, Inoue S. The balancing act of Nipponites mirabilis (Nostoceratidae, Ammonoidea): Managing hydrostatics throughout a complex ontogeny. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0235180. [PMID: 32760063 PMCID: PMC7410299 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0235180] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2020] [Accepted: 07/22/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Nipponites is a heteromorph ammonoid with a complex and unique morphology that obscures its mode of life and ethology. The seemingly aberrant shell of this Late Cretaceous nostoceratid seems deleterious. However, hydrostatic simulations suggest that this morphology confers several advantages for exploiting a quasi-planktic mode of life. Virtual, 3D models of Nipponites mirabilis were used to compute various hydrostatic properties through 14 ontogenetic stages. At each stage, Nipponites had the capacity for neutral buoyancy and was not restricted to the seafloor. Throughout ontogeny, horizontally facing to upwardly facing soft body orientations were preferred at rest. These orientations were aided by the obliquity of the shell's ribs, which denote former positions of the aperture that were tilted from the growth direction of the shell. Static orientations were somewhat fixed, inferred by stability values that are slightly higher than extant Nautilus. The initial open-whorled, planispiral phase is well suited to horizontal backwards movement with little rocking. Nipponites then deviated from this bilaterally symmetric coiling pattern with a series of alternating U-shaped bends in the shell. This modification allows for proficient rotation about the vertical axis, while possibly maintaining the option for horizontal backwards movement by redirecting its hyponome. These particular hydrostatic properties likely result in a tradeoff between hydrodynamic streamlining, suggesting that Nipponites assumed a low energy lifestyle of slowly pirouetting in search for planktic prey. Each computed hydrostatic property influences the others in some way, suggesting that Nipponites maintained a delicate hydrostatic balancing act throughout its ontogeny in order to facilitate this mode of life.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- David J. Peterman
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America
| | - Tomoyuki Mikami
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Shinya Inoue
- Hokkaido University, Shuma-no-kai, Hokkaido, Japan
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Tajika A, Nützel A, Klug C. The old and the new plankton: ecological replacement of associations of mollusc plankton and giant filter feeders after the Cretaceous? PeerJ 2018; 6:e4219. [PMID: 29333344 PMCID: PMC5765809 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.4219] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2017] [Accepted: 12/12/2017] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Owing to their great diversity and abundance, ammonites and belemnites represented key elements in Mesozoic food webs. Because of their extreme ontogenetic size increase by up to three orders of magnitude, their position in the food webs likely changed during ontogeny. Here, we reconstruct the number of eggs laid by large adult females of these cephalopods and discuss developmental shifts in their ecologic roles. Based on similarities in conch morphology, size, habitat and abundance, we suggest that similar niches occupied in the Cretaceous by juvenile ammonites and belemnites were vacated during the extinction and later partially filled by holoplanktonic gastropods. As primary consumers, these extinct cephalopod groups were important constituents of the plankton and a principal food source for planktivorous organisms. As victims or, respectively, profiteers of this case of ecological replacement, filter feeding chondrichthyans and cetaceans likely filled the niches formerly occupied by large pachycormid fishes during the Jurassic and Cretaceous.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Amane Tajika
- Paläontologisches Institut und Museum, Universität Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Alexander Nützel
- SNSB-Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Palaeontology & Geobiology, GeoBio-Center LMU, München, Germany
| | - Christian Klug
- Paläontologisches Institut und Museum, Universität Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| |
Collapse
|