Palaeoecological perspectives in Dominican amber

Poinar, George

doi:10.1080/00379271.2010.10697637

Cited by 47 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 43 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The argumentation presented here is best comparable to the reconstruction of behavioural or autecological aspects of extinct organisms. In extinct organisms, a direct observation of their behaviour is impossible, and only functional morphological aspects as well as positional information of numerous specimens can be used to infer possible aspects of the behavioural repertoire of the organisms (e.g., Wedmann et al, 2007;Benton, 2010;Poinar, 2010;Haug et al, 2012b, c, 2013 andreferences therein).…”

Section: Indirect Reconstruction Of Behavioural Traitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Defensive enrolment in mantis shrimp larvae (Malacostraca: Stomatopoda)

Haug

2014

CTOZ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We describe a possible new defensive behaviour of larval stages of mantis shrimps (Stomatopoda). Mantis shrimp larvae are rarely observed in nature, thus the study is based on postures of museum material and functional morphological aspects. Specimens described here are tightly enrolled, their pleon is bent forward, and the telson is locked into the frontal margin of the shield. This margin has two lobes into which the two posterolateral spines of the telson fit. The shield shows further adaptions to enrolment; e.g., the ventral gape of the shield perfectly matches the width of the pleon and leaves no major gaps when the pleon is bent forward. Based on these observations, we briefly discuss the possibilities to infer behavioural aspects from functional morphological aspects. Enrolment in modern day organisms is primarily known from terrestrial arthropods, e.g., pill bugs and pill millipedes, but in the Palaeozoic it was mainly performed by marine organisms such as trilobites, agnostines and their relatives. Stomatopod larvae that appear to be able to perform enrolling in a marine environment are therefore a potential functional equivalent for better understanding the functional aspects of enrolment in extinct marine arthropods.

show abstract

Section: Indirect Reconstruction Of Behavioural Traitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Defensive enrolment in mantis shrimp larvae (Malacostraca: Stomatopoda)

Haug

2014

CTOZ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In the Greater Antilles, amber has been found on a few islands in small quantities, but amber from the Dominican Republic stands out due to its quantity and quality of fossil inclusions (10)(11)(12). To date, amber fossils have been recovered for a variety of vertebrate groups (13)(14)(15)(16), but most are presently known from only one or a few specimens, which limits the potential for drawing general conclusions about the evolution of these groups.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Amber fossils demonstrate deep-time stability of Caribbean lizard communities

Sherratt

Castañeda

Garwood

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Whether the structure of ecological communities can exhibit stability over macroevolutionary timescales has long been debated. The similarity of independently evolved Anolis lizard communities on environmentally similar Greater Antillean islands supports the notion that community evolution is deterministic. However, a dearth of Caribbean Anolis fossils-only three have been described to datehas precluded direct investigation of the stability of anole communities through time. Here we report on an additional 17 fossil anoles in Dominican amber dating to 15-20 My before the present. Using data collected primarily by X-ray microcomputed tomography (X-ray micro-CT), we demonstrate that the main elements of Hispaniolan anole ecomorphological diversity were in place in the Miocene. Phylogenetic analysis yields results consistent with the hypothesis that the ecomorphs that evolved in the Miocene are members of the same ecomorph clades extant today. The primary axes of ecomorphological diversity in the Hispaniolan anole fauna appear to have changed little between the Miocene and the present, providing evidence for the stability of ecological communities over macroevolutionary timescales.adaptive radiation | ecomorph | Hispaniola | Miocene | Anolis

show abstract

“…The recognition of the three Miocene-based fossils Scelianoma compacta [FZ2017], Tropirhinus palpebratus [FZ2017], and Diaprepes anticus [FZ2017] suggests that the corresponding weevil lineages are longstanding members of a diversified and specialized West Indian weevil fauna (see also Poinar 2010, Poinar and Legalov 2015, Poinar et al 2013). The description of Scelianoma compacta [FZ2017] in particular indicates that the historical range of Scelianoma [FZ2017] extends beyond southwestern Puerto Rico (Franz and Girón 2009) to include Hispaniola.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The age and origin of Dominican amber are reviewed in Grimaldi and Engel (2005). For select references on the insect and weevil diversity reported from Dominican amber see Arillo and Ortuño (2005), Poinar (2010), Yunakov and Kirejtshuk (2011), Poinar et al (2013), Poinar and Legalov (2015). Solórzano Kraemer et al (2015) discuss the effect of "entrapment bias" on the taxonomic composition of amber-preserved arthropod samples.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Three new species of entimine weevils in Early Miocene amber from the Dominican Republic (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

Franz

Zhang

2017

BDJ

607

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundUsing syntactic and semantic conventions of the taxonomic concept approach (Franz et al. 2015), we describe three newly recognized fossil broad-nosed weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Entiminae) preserved in Early Miocene amber (ca. 20.4-16.0 mya) from the Dominican Republic: Scelianoma compacta sp. n. sec. Franz & Zhang (2017) (henceforth abbreviated as [FZ2017]), Tropirhinus palpebratus sp. n. [FZ2017], and Diaprepes anticus sp. n. [FZ2017]. The taxonomic assignment of the amber inclusions is grounded in a preceding phylogenetic analysis by Franz (2012). As many as 88 of the 143 therein identified characters were coded for the fossils, whose traits are largely congruent with those present in extant congeners while also differing in ways that justify their new nomenclatural and taxonomic status.New informationWe present detailed images, descriptions, and phylogenetically informed diagnoses for the three new species-level entities, along with logically consistent Region Connection Calculus (RCC-5) alignments of the amended genus-level classifications for Scelianoma Franz and Girón 2009 [FZ2017], Tropirhinus Schoenherr 1823 [FZ2017], and Diaprepes Schoenherr 1823 [FZ2017] - in relation to 2-4 preceding classifications published in 1982-2012. The description of Scelianoma compacta [FZ2017] from Hispaniola is indicative of a more widespread historical range of Scelianoma [FZ2017] than reflected in the extant, southwestern Puerto Rican Scelianoma elydimorpha Franz and Girón 2009 sec. Franz and Girón (2009). The presence of Diaprepes anticus [FZ2017] in Hispaniola during the Early Miocene suggests an eastward directed process of island colonization and likely speciation of members of Diaprepes [FZ2017], given that most extant relatives occur throughout the Lesser Antilles. The herein presented data will facilitate more reliable reconstructions of historical biographic processes thought to have played a prominent role in the diversification of the West Indian and Neotropical mainland broad-nosed weevil lineages.

show abstract

Palaeoecological perspectives in Dominican amber

Cited by 47 publications

References 43 publications

Defensive enrolment in mantis shrimp larvae (Malacostraca: Stomatopoda)

Defensive enrolment in mantis shrimp larvae (Malacostraca: Stomatopoda)

Amber fossils demonstrate deep-time stability of Caribbean lizard communities

Three new species of entimine weevils in Early Miocene amber from the Dominican Republic (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About