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New
fossil species reveals parental care of young from 450 million years ago
New
fossil species reveals parental care of young from 450 million years ago
Date:
March 13,
2014
Source:
University of Leicester
Summary:
A portrait of prehistoric parenthood captured deep in
the fossil record has been uncovered by an international team of scientists.
The 'nursery in the sea' has revealed a species new to science -- with
specimens preserved incubating their eggs together with probable hatched
individuals. As a result, the team has named the new species Luprisca incuba
after Lucina, goddess of childbirth, and alluding to the fact that the fossils
are ancient and in each case the mother was literally sitting on her eggs.
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A portrait
of prehistoric parenthood captured deep in the fossil record has been uncovered
by an international team of scientists led by University of Leicester geologist
Professor David Siveter.
The 'nursery
in the sea' has revealed a species new to science -- with specimens preserved
incubating their eggs together with probable hatched individuals. As a result,
the team has named the new species Luprisca incuba after Lucina, goddess
of childbirth, and alluding to the fact that the fossils are ancient and in
each case the mother was literally sitting on her eggs.
The find,
published in the journal Current Biology, provides conclusive evidence
of a reproductive and brood-care strategy conserved for at least 450 million
years. It also represents the oldest confirmed occurrence of ostracods in the
fossil record.
Professor
Siveter, Emeritus Professor of Palaeontology at the University of Leicester,
said: "This a very rare and exciting find from the fossil record. Only a
handful of examples are known where eggs are fossilized and associated with the
parent. This discovery tells us that these ancient tiny marine crustaceans took
particular care of their brood in exactly the same way as their living
relatives."
The team
from the UK, USA and Japan has discovered a new and scientifically important
species of a fossil ostracod- an animal group related to shrimps, lobsters and
crabs -- in mudstone rocks from New York State, USA, dating back to the
Ordovician period of geological time. Ostracods are tiny crustaceans known from
thousands of living species in oceans to rivers, lakes and ponds today and from
countless fossil shells.
The newly
discovered fossils are two to three millimetres long and are especially
informative because they are exceptionally well preserved, complete with not
only the shell but also the soft parts of the animal that in all but very rare
cases are lost to the fossil record. Limbs and in some specimens a clutch of
eggs are present within the bivalved shell, enabling the scientists to identify
and gender such specimens. These anatomical features were preserved in the
mineral pyrite, which facilitated the use of x-ray techniques to reveal
morphological details hidden within the shells and the rock.
Professor
Siveter, of the University of Leicester's Department of Geology, together with
researchers from the universities of Yale and Kansas, USA, Oxford, UK, and the
Japan Agency of Marine Science and Technology, discovered the tiny arthropods.
The
ostracods lived, together with other invertebrate animals such as trilobites,
in poorly oxygenated conditions in a sea bordering the margins of the ancient
North American continent. Professor Siveter said that, like their modern
relatives, the ostracods were probably capable of swimming near the sea bed and
obtained their food by scavenging and hunting.
Story
Source:
The above
story is based on materials provided by University of Leicester. Note: Materials may be
edited for content and length.
Journal
Reference:
- David J. Siveter, Gengo Tanaka, Úna C. Farrell, Markus J. Martin, Derek J. Siveter, Derek E.G. Briggs. Exceptionally Preserved 450-Million-Year-Old Ordovician Ostracods with Brood Care. Current Biology, 13 March 2014 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2014.02.040