Evolutionary Transition in the Late Neogene Planktonic Foraminiferal Genus Truncorotalia

Russell D C Bicknell; Katie S Collins; Martin Crundwell; Michael Hannah; James S Crampton; Nicolás E Campione

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2018.09.013

Evolutionary Transition in the Late Neogene Planktonic Foraminiferal Genus Truncorotalia

iScience. 2018 Oct 26:8:295-303. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2018.09.013. Epub 2018 Oct 17.

Authors

Russell D C Bicknell¹, Katie S Collins², Martin Crundwell³, Michael Hannah⁴, James S Crampton⁵, Nicolás E Campione⁶

Affiliations

¹ Palaeoscience Research Centre, School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale 2351, Australia. Electronic address: rdcbicknell@gmail.com.
² Department of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, 5734 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
³ Department of Paleontology, GNS Science, Lower Hutt 5040, New Zealand.
⁴ School of Geography, Environment and Earth Science, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington 6140, New Zealand.
⁵ Department of Paleontology, GNS Science, Lower Hutt 5040, New Zealand; School of Geography, Environment and Earth Science, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington 6140, New Zealand.
⁶ Palaeoscience Research Centre, School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale 2351, Australia.

Abstract

The fossil record provides empirical patterns of morphological change through time and is central to the study of the tempo and mode of evolution. Here we apply likelihood-based time-series analyses to the near-continuous fossil record of Neogene planktonic foraminifera and reveal a morphological shift along the Truncorotalia lineage. Based on a geometric morphometric dataset of 1,459 specimens, spanning 5.9-4.5 Ma, we recover a shift in the mode of evolution from a disparate latest Miocene morphospace to a highly constrained early Pliocene morphospace. Our recovered dynamics are consistent with those stipulated by Simpson's quantum evolution and Eldredge-Gould's punctuated equilibria and supports previous suppositions that even within a single lineage, evolutionary dynamics require a multi-parameter model framework to describe. We show that foraminiferal lineages are not necessarily gradual and can experience significant and rapid transitions along their evolutionary trajectories and reaffirm the utility of multivariate datasets for their future research.

Keywords: Biological Sciences; Ecology; Evolutionary Biology; Paleobiology; Phylogenetics.