Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (4) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Wagner, P. J. Articles by Erwin, D. H. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Patterns of convergence in general shell form among Paleozoic gastropods

¹ Peter J. Wagner. Department of Geology, Field Museum of Natural History, 1400 South Lakeshore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605. pwagner{at}fmnh.org
² Douglas H. Erwin. Department of Paleobiology, MRC-121, National Museum of Natural History, Post Office Box 37012, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012, and Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501. Erwind{at}si.edu

Recent phylogenetic studies of Paleozoic gastropods show the classification provided by the Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology to include numerous highly polyphyletic taxa. Here we test whether this classification reflects limits on the range of possible designs, general architectural constraints, or common functional solutions for Paleozoic gastropods. Our test evaluates whether superfamilial/subordinal level archetypes as defined by the Treatise evolved more frequently than expected among 626 Late Cambrian–Middle Devonian species. Using a previously established phylogeny and five general shell features (spire angle, exhalent current position, base angle, umbilical width, and apertural inclination) we show that there are fewer gastropod morphotypes than expected given the frequency of change in these features. This is true even after accounting for architectural constraints implied by the data. Moreover, the most common morphotypes include significantly more species and evolved significantly more times than expected. These results imply a set of architectural attractors for lower–middle Paleozoic gastropods, consistent with ecomorphological theory that particular morphotypes are best suited for particular lifestyles. Thus, the Treatise classifications likely reflect these ecomorphological patterns within subclades rather than phylogenetic patterns.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				D. Jablonski and J. A. Finarelli Congruence of morphologically-defined genera with molecular phylogenies PNAS, May 19, 2009; 106(20): 8262 - 8266. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. Finnegan, J. L. Payne, and S. C. Wang The Red Queen revisited: reevaluating the age selectivity of Phanerozoic marine genus extinctions Paleobiology, September 1, 2008; 34(3): 318 - 341. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				G. J. Vermeij The ecology of invasion: acquisition and loss of the siphonal canal in gastropods Paleobiology, June 1, 2007; 33(3): 469 - 493. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]