0000000000237305
AUTHOR
Michel Roux
Athenacrinus n. gen. and other early echinoderm taxa inform crinoid origin and arm evolution
AbstractIntermediate morphologies of a new fossil crinoid shed light on the pathway by which crinoids acquired their distinctive arms. Apomorphies originating deep in echinoderm history among early nonblastozoan pentaradiate echinoderms distinguish Tremadocian (earliest Ordovician) crinoid arms from later taxa. The brachial series is separated from the ambulacra, part of the axial skeleton, by lateral plate fields. Cover plates are arrayed in two tiers, and floor plates expressed podial basins and pores. Later during the Early Ordovician, floor plates contacted and nestled into brachials, then were unexpressed as stereom elements entirely and cover plates were reduced to a single tier. Inco…
Experimental and natural cathodoluminescence in the shell of Crassostrea gigas from Thau lagoon (France): ecological and environmental implications.
We present a cathodoluminescence (CL) study of growth layer deposition in the shell of the oyster Crassostrea gigas. CL is based on the physical properties of lattice-bound manganese (Mn2+), which is the main activator in calcium carbonate. Our study involved chemical marking by immersing individuals in seawater to which manganese chloride had been added, and subsequent reading of the shell with CL microscopy coupled with numeric treatment of microphotographs; CL emission was analyzed using a scanning electron microscope coupled to a spectrometer. Since the marking did not harm the oysters, repeated markings were possible, allowing validation of the inferences made from analysis of the shel…
Revision of the pentacrinid stalked crinoids of the genus Endoxocrinus (Echinodermata, Crinoidea), with a study of environmental control of characters and its consequences for taxonomy
A revision of the stalked crinoid species attributed to the genus Endoxocrinus A.H. Clark, 1908 (Diplocrininae, Pentacrinitidae, Crinoidea, Echinodermata) is conducted using studies on phenotype variation and its relation with environment. Specimens collected via submersible at five sites in the Bahamas exhibit distinct phenotypes that correlate with different apparent ecological niches and serve as references for interpreting specimens dredged in Atlantic and Pacific Oceans where detailed information on their benthic environment is unknown. Documentation of ecophenotypic convergences or divergences allows us to distinguish between adaptive characters and those revealing genetic affinities,…