scholarly journals Neoichnology of the eastern spadefoot toad, Scaphiopus holbrookii (Anura: Scaphiopodidae): criteria for recognizing anuran burrows in the fossil record

10.26879/558 ◽  
2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
LM Johnson ◽  
DI Hembree
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Spadefoot Toad ◽  
Scaphiopus Holbrookii

scholarly journals An experimental investigation of how intraspecific competition and phenotypic plasticity can promote the evolution of novel, complex phenotypes

2020 ◽  
Vol 131 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-87
Author(s):  
Nicholas A Levis ◽  
Carly G Fuller ◽  
David W Pfennig
Keyword(s):  
Phenotypic Plasticity ◽  
Intraspecific Competition ◽  
Morphological Plasticity ◽  
Standard Diet ◽  
Heritable Variation ◽  
Evolutionary Diversification ◽  
Evolutionary Innovation ◽  
Spadefoot Toad ◽  
Scaphiopus Holbrookii ◽  
Novel Complex

Abstract Intraspecific competition has long been considered a key driver of evolutionary diversification, but whether it can also promote evolutionary innovation is less clear. Here we examined the interplay between competition and phenotypic plasticity in fuelling the origins of a novel, complex phenotype – a distinctive carnivore morph found in spadefoot toad tadpoles (genus Spea) that specializes on fairy shrimp. We specifically sought to explore the possible origins of this phenotype by providing shrimp to Scaphiopus holbrookii tadpoles (the sister genus to Spea that does not produce carnivores) while subjecting them to competition for their standard diet of detritus. Previous research had shown that this species will eat shrimp when detritus is limited, and that these shrimp-fed individuals produce features that are redolent of a rudimentary Spea carnivore. In this study, we found that: (1) behavioural and morphological plasticity enabled some individuals to expand their diet to include shrimp; (2) there was heritable variation in this plasticity; and (3) individuals received a growth and development benefit by eating shrimp. Thus, novel resource use can arise via plasticity as an adaptive response to intraspecific competition. More generally, our results show how competition and plasticity may interact to pave the way for the evolution of complex, novel phenotypes, such as the distinctive carnivore morph in present-day Spea.

Development and characterization of ten microsatellite loci for the eastern spadefoot toad, Scaphiopus holbrookii

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew R. Erickson ◽  
David E. Scott ◽  
Kenneth L. Jones ◽  
Cris Hagen ◽  
Stacey L. Lance
Keyword(s):  
Microsatellite Loci ◽  
Spadefoot Toad ◽  
Scaphiopus Holbrookii

Darwin's two competing phylogenetic trees: marsupials as ancestors or sister taxa?

2012 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. David Archibald
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Phylogenetic Trees ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
The Other ◽  
Charles Lyell ◽  
Single Origin ◽  
Molecular Studies ◽  
Richard Owen ◽  
First Time

Studies of the origin and diversification of major groups of plants and animals are contentious topics in current evolutionary biology. This includes the study of the timing and relationships of the two major clades of extant mammals – marsupials and placentals. Molecular studies concerned with marsupial and placental origin and diversification can be at odds with the fossil record. Such studies are, however, not a recent phenomenon. Over 150 years ago Charles Darwin weighed two alternative views on the origin of marsupials and placentals. Less than a year after the publication of On the origin of species, Darwin outlined these in a letter to Charles Lyell dated 23 September 1860. The letter concluded with two competing phylogenetic diagrams. One showed marsupials as ancestral to both living marsupials and placentals, whereas the other showed a non-marsupial, non-placental as being ancestral to both living marsupials and placentals. These two diagrams are published here for the first time. These are the only such competing phylogenetic diagrams that Darwin is known to have produced. In addition to examining the question of mammalian origins in this letter and in other manuscript notes discussed here, Darwin confronted the broader issue as to whether major groups of animals had a single origin (monophyly) or were the result of “continuous creation” as advocated for some groups by Richard Owen. Charles Lyell had held similar views to those of Owen, but it is clear from correspondence with Darwin that he was beginning to accept the idea of monophyly of major groups.

Life History Traits in a Population of Pelobates syriacus (Boettger, 1889) from Turkey

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 195-200
Author(s):  
Ufuk Bülbül ◽  
Halime Koç ◽  
Yasemin Odabaş ◽  
Ali İhsan Eroğlu ◽  
Muammer Kurnaz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Age Structure ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Spadefoot Toad ◽  
Males And Females

Age structure of the eastern spadefoot toad, Pelobates syriacus from the Kızılırmak Delta (Turkey) were assessed using phalangeal skeletochronology. Snout-vent length (SVL) ranged from 42.05 to 86.63 mm in males and 34.03 to 53.27 mm in females. Age of adults ranged from 2 to 8 years in males and 3 to 5 years in females. For both sexes, SVL was significantly correlated with age. Males and females of the toads reached maturity at 2 years of age.

THE FIRST APPEARANCE OF CONTROLLED EUKARYOTIC BIOMINERALIZATION IN THE NEOPROTEROZOIC FOSSIL RECORD

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phoebe Cohen ◽  
◽  
Justin V. Strauss ◽  
Alan D. Rooney ◽  
Mukul Sharma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record
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