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Ontogeny and taphonomy: an experimental taphonomy study of the development of the brine shrimp Artemia salina

Ontogeny and taphonomy: an experimental taphonomy study of the development of the brine shrimp Artemia salina
Ontogeny and taphonomy: an experimental taphonomy study of the development of the brine shrimp Artemia salina
Although the relationship between ontogeny and phylogeny has been of long-standing interest to palaeontologists, the fossil record has provided little insight into the development of long extinct organisms. This has changed with the discovery of numerous assemblages of fossilized invertebrate embryos and larvae, but realising their evolutionary significance is hampered by a paucity of data on the relationship between ontogeny and taphonomy. We describe the results of an experimental taphonomy study of the development of the anostracan brine shrimp Artemia salina, which show that in conditions of aqueous aerobic and anaerobic autolysis and microbial decay, the developmental stages exhibit differential preservation potential. The most decay resistant developmental stage is the diapause cyst, encapulsating the gastrula, in which the gross morphology of the embryo can be maintained for 18 months or more in simple anaerobic conditions. Otherwise, the embryo shrinks within the cyst and cellular and tissue detail of breaks down as lipid droplets coalesce. Postembryonic excysted larvae decay more rapidly. The rate of decay is similar among all larval stages with the exception of the L4 larva, which resists cuticle failure for longer than later developmental stages. The larvae decay leading to liquefaction of the muscles and viscera, leaving an intact but empty and progressively shrunken and distorted cuticle that eventually loses structural integrity and collapses. Our experimental results provide an explanatory model for the phenomenal abundance of putative diapause stage embryos, in the absence of postembryonic stages, as seen in the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation of South China and the incompleteness of fossilized developmental sequences of embryos and larvae more generally. It also cautions against the association of developmental stages in fossil deposits without additional evidence. Finally, the pattern of decay seen in larvae provides an explanation for the preservation style of Orsten-type Lagerstätten where preservation of cuticular detail can be astonishingly fine, but extends internally to muscles and viscera only rarely.
experimental taphonomy, preservation, ontogeny, development, embryos, crustacea, doushantuo
0031-0239
169-186
Gostling, Neil J.
4840aa40-cb6c-4112-a0b9-694a869523fc
Dong, Xiping
51a20b01-1b34-4da6-abae-cd683fb6fbcd
Donoghue, Philip C.J.
5f3fdb63-0685-40b8-aa87-d71353474db2
Gostling, Neil J.
4840aa40-cb6c-4112-a0b9-694a869523fc
Dong, Xiping
51a20b01-1b34-4da6-abae-cd683fb6fbcd
Donoghue, Philip C.J.
5f3fdb63-0685-40b8-aa87-d71353474db2

Gostling, Neil J., Dong, Xiping and Donoghue, Philip C.J. (2009) Ontogeny and taphonomy: an experimental taphonomy study of the development of the brine shrimp Artemia salina. Palaeontology, 52 (1), 169-186. (doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2008.00834.x).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Although the relationship between ontogeny and phylogeny has been of long-standing interest to palaeontologists, the fossil record has provided little insight into the development of long extinct organisms. This has changed with the discovery of numerous assemblages of fossilized invertebrate embryos and larvae, but realising their evolutionary significance is hampered by a paucity of data on the relationship between ontogeny and taphonomy. We describe the results of an experimental taphonomy study of the development of the anostracan brine shrimp Artemia salina, which show that in conditions of aqueous aerobic and anaerobic autolysis and microbial decay, the developmental stages exhibit differential preservation potential. The most decay resistant developmental stage is the diapause cyst, encapulsating the gastrula, in which the gross morphology of the embryo can be maintained for 18 months or more in simple anaerobic conditions. Otherwise, the embryo shrinks within the cyst and cellular and tissue detail of breaks down as lipid droplets coalesce. Postembryonic excysted larvae decay more rapidly. The rate of decay is similar among all larval stages with the exception of the L4 larva, which resists cuticle failure for longer than later developmental stages. The larvae decay leading to liquefaction of the muscles and viscera, leaving an intact but empty and progressively shrunken and distorted cuticle that eventually loses structural integrity and collapses. Our experimental results provide an explanatory model for the phenomenal abundance of putative diapause stage embryos, in the absence of postembryonic stages, as seen in the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation of South China and the incompleteness of fossilized developmental sequences of embryos and larvae more generally. It also cautions against the association of developmental stages in fossil deposits without additional evidence. Finally, the pattern of decay seen in larvae provides an explanation for the preservation style of Orsten-type Lagerstätten where preservation of cuticular detail can be astonishingly fine, but extends internally to muscles and viscera only rarely.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 28 April 2008
e-pub ahead of print date: 31 December 2008
Published date: January 2009
Keywords: experimental taphonomy, preservation, ontogeny, development, embryos, crustacea, doushantuo
Organisations: Centre for Biological Sciences

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 385759
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/385759
ISSN: 0031-0239
PURE UUID: 11241d55-b948-488d-92ed-226bf8889e6d
ORCID for Neil J. Gostling: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-5960-7769

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Date deposited: 22 Jan 2016 09:52
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:42

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Contributors

Author: Xiping Dong
Author: Philip C.J. Donoghue

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