Search results for " Size"
showing 10 items of 2281 documents
Developmental aspects of morphological disparity dynamics: a simple analytical exploration
2011
15 pages; International audience; We devised a simple model for assessing the role of development in shaping the evolution of morphological disparity. Disparity of a clade at any given time is expressed in terms of the developmental dynamics that lead to the variety of adult morphotypes observed. We use assumed phenotypic manifestations of developmental processes, as they could be detected from allometric characterizations, to distinguish a few, nonexclusive types of evolutionary changes in ontogeny. On the basis of this formalization, we describe the diversification of hypothetical clades, using the standard curve of adult morphological disparity, the curve of juvenile disparity, and the c…
Globacrochordiceras gen. nov. (Acrochordiceratidae, late Early Triassic) and its significance for stress-induced evolutionary jumps in ammonoid linea…
2013
<i>Globacrochordiceras transpacificum</i> gen. et sp. nov. is an ammonoid (Ammonoidea, Cephalopoda) with a shell characterized by plicate ribbing (rounded and undulating ribs strengthening on the venter without interruption), increasing involution through ontogeny, overhanging and deep umbilical wall, absence of tuberculation, subtriangular whorl section, globose adult shape with a closed umbilicus followed by an abrupt egressive coiling, and a subammonitic adult suture line. This new taxon occurs in Nevada (USA) and in Guangxi (South China). It has its typical occurrence within the <i>Neopopanoceras haugi</i> Zone of late Spathian age (Early Triassic). The plicate r…
Evolutionary trends of Triassic ammonoids.
2015
The Triassic represents a key interval in the evolutionary history of ammonoids. Characterized by the dominance of the Ceratitida with their typical suture line indented on the lobes only, the Triassic quasi-monophyletic clade shows a remarkable biostratigraphic and geographic record. However, very few studies have thoroughly investigated their evolutionary trends, except for taxonomic richness. Although Triassic ammonoids show a very large range of morphologies, suture complexity and adult size, little is currently known about their trends, except for peculiar time intervals or taxonomic groups. Nevertheless, it seems that taxonomic diversity and morphological disparity of Triassic ammonoi…
Drastic Genome Reduction in an Herbivore's Pectinolytic Symbiont.
2017
Pectin, an integral component of the plant cell wall, is a recalcitrant substrate against enzymatic challenges by most animals. In characterizing the source of a leaf beetle’s (Cassida rubiginosa) pectin-degrading phenotype, we demonstrate its dependency on an extracellular bacterium housed in specialized organs connected to the foregut. Despite possessing the smallest genome (0.27 Mb) of any organism not subsisting within a host cell, the symbiont nonetheless retained a functional pectinolytic metabolism targeting the polysaccharide’s two most abundant classes: homogalacturonan and rhamnogalacturonan I. Comparative transcriptomics revealed pectinase expression to be enriched in the symbiot…
SPECIES RICHNESS WITHIN FAMILIES OF FLOWERING PLANTS
1994
Variation in species and genus richness among families of flowering plants was examined with respect to four classification variables: geographical distribution, growth form, pollination mode, and dispersal mode. Previous studies have estimated rates of species proliferation from age and contemporary diversity. Here we found that the earliest appearances in the fossil record are correlated with contemporary familial species richness, abundance in the fossil record, and the independent variables considered in this analysis. Thus, we believe that the fossil record does not provide reasonable estimates of the ages of families and that the rate of species proliferation cannot be calculated from…
Sexual selection in a wolf spider: Male drumming activity, body size, and viability
1996
Females are often believed to actively choose highly ornamented males (males with extravagant morphological signals or intense sexual display), and ornaments should be honest signals of male viability. However, this belief is relying only on some pieces of empirical evidence from birds. Our study reports active female choice on sexual display that indicates male viability in spiders. We established trials in which we studied female choice in relation to male courtship drumming activity and body size. Females chose the most actively drumming males as mating partners, but the body size of the males did not seem to be selected. Male drumming activity turned out to be a good predictor of male v…
Viability selection creates negative heterozygosity–fitness correlations in female Black Grouse Lyrurus tetrix
2017
There is widespread interest in the relationship between individual genetic diversity and fitness–related traits (heterozygosity–fitness correlations, HFC). Most studies found weak continuous increases of fitness with increasing heterozygosity while negative HFC have rarely been reported. Negative HFC are expected in cases of outbreeding depression and outbreeding is rare in natural populations; but negative HFC may also arise through viability selection acting on low heterozygosity individuals at an early stage producing a skew in the heterozygosity distribution leading to negative HFCs. We tested this idea using survival and clutch parameters (egg mass, egg volume, chick mass, clutch size…
Thalassocella blandensis gen. nov., sp. nov., a novel member of the family Cellvibrionaceae
2020
9 pages, 1 figure, 3 tables
Reproductive inequalities in the acanthocephalan Corynosoma cetaceum: looking beyond 'crowding' effects.
2018
Background: At present, much research effort has been devoted to investigate overall (average) responses of parasite populations to specific factors, e.g., density-dependence in fecundity or mortality. However, studies on parasite populations usually pay little attention to individual variation (inequality) in reproductive success. A previous study on the acanthocephalan Corynosoma cetaceum in franciscana dolphins, Pontoporia blainvillei, revealed no overall intensity-dependent, or microhabitat effects, on mass and fecundity of worms. In this study, we investigated whether the same factors could influence mass inequalities for this species of acanthocephalan.Methods: A total of 10,138 speci…
Morphological and genetic analyses reveal a cryptic species complex in the echinoid Echinocardium cordatum and rule out a stabilizing selection expla…
2014
14 pages; International audience; Preliminary analyses revealed the presence of at least five mitochondrial clades within the widespread sea urchin Echinocardium cordatum (Spatangoida). In this study, we analyzed the genetic (two mitochondrial and two nuclear sequence loci) and morphological characteristics (20 indices) from worldwide samples of this taxon to establish the species limits, morphological diversity and differentiation. Co-occurring spatangoid species were also analyzed with mitochondrial DNA. The nuclear sequences confirm that mitochondrial lineages correspond to true genetic entities and reveal that two clades (named A and B1) hybridize in their sympatry area, although a more…