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Intraspecific bimodal variability in eye lenses of two Devonian trilobites

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 September 2015

Catherine Crônier
Affiliation:
Université Lille 1, UFR Sciences de la Terre, Unité 8198 EvoEcoPaléo, 59655 Villeneuve d'Ascq Cedex, France. E-mail: catherine.cronier@univ-lille1.fr
Petr Budil
Affiliation:
Czech Republic & Faculty of Environmental Science, Czech University of Life Sciences, Kamýcká 129, CZ-165 21 Praha 6 – Suchdol, Czech Republic and Czech Geological Survey, Klárov 3, 118 21 Prague 1, Czech Republic. E-mail: phacopidina@seznam.cz, petr.budil@geology.cz.
Oldřich Fatka
Affiliation:
Charles University, Faculty of Science, Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Albertov 6, 128 43 Prague 2, Czech Republic. E-mail: fatka@natur.cuni.cz.
Lukáš Laibl
Affiliation:
National Museum, Prague, Václavské nám. 68, 115 79 Praha 1, Czech Republic. E-mail: lukas.laibl@gmail.com.

Abstract

Arthropods are known to display a variable number of eye lenses and this number mostly increases during their development. In trilobites, most species possessing schizochroal eyes exhibit a notable intraspecific variation in the number of dorso ventral files of eye lenses that can be age related (i.e., growth) or not (i.e., living environment). Several previous studies have shown that some trilobite groups (e.g. phacopids) tend to have fewer lenses/files in representatives from the deeper habitats than those from shallower habitats. In this study, we analyzed the pattern of variation in the number of dorso ventral files of eye lenses in two Devonian phacopid trilobites from the Prague Basin of the Czech Republic. We quantified their intraspecific variability. To better understand the patterning, we compared more than 120 individuals. Data first reveal evidence of a bimodal distribution of lens/file number without intermediate forms among each of two studied populations of Prokops prokopi (Chlupáč, 1971) and throughout the ontogeny of Pedinopariops insequens (Chlupáč, 1977). Our results indicate that caution must be taken for taxonomical affiliation and biodiversity analyses of taxa in which the intraspecific variability is unclear. Additionally, we investigated possible relations of these bimodalities to the stratigraphical position of studied populations and to the paleoenvironment. In Prokops prokopi, a slightly different age of both populations, together with supposed differences in the local environments can be responsible for observed variability. In Pedinopariops insequens, stress conditions possibly related to the approaching onset of the Basal Choteč Event can be responsible for surprising intrapopulation variability. We speculate that the stress conditions could cause a bimodal selection and possibly also the change of ontogenetic trajectory within this species. Pedinopariops insequens was the only phacopid in the Prague Basin that crosses the Lower/Middle Devonian boundary and survived also the onset of Basal Choteč Event.

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Copyright © 2015 The Paleontological Society. All rights reserved. 
Figure 0

Figure 1 A sketch map of the distribution of the Devonian rocks in the Barrandian area. The position of both studied localities is indicated by stars.

Figure 1

Figure 2 Pragian to Eifelian stratigraphy of the Prague Basin (after Chlupáč et al. 1998, modified by Budil et al. 2009). Conodont biozones of Pragian after Slavík (2004a, 2004b), Slavík et al. (2007), and Carls et al. (2008). Upper Emsian to Eifelian biozones after Gradstein et al. (2012), Ferová et al. (2012), Klapper and Vodrážková (2013) and Vodrážková et al. (2013). Key to the localities: (1) Malá Chuchle; (2) St. Prokop’s Quarry; (3) Praha-Holyně Section.

Figure 2

Figure 3 A–C, Prokops prokopi (Chlupáč, 1971) from the Malá Chuchle locality, in the vicinity of Praha: (A, B) cephalon in dorsal and lateral views respectively with 13 dorso ventral files, C, detail of an eye with 13 dorso ventral files. D–F, Prokops prokopi (Chlupáč, 1971) from the Hlubočepy/St-Prokop's Quarry, in the vicinity of Praha: D–E, cephalon in dorsal and lateral views respectively with 8/9 dorso ventral files, F, detail of an eye with nine dorso ventral files. G–K, Pedinopariops insequens (Chlupáč, 1977) from the Praha-Holyně Section, at a SW suburb of Praha: G–H, cephalon in dorsal and lateral views respectively with 18 dorso ventral files, I, detail of an eye with 18 dorso ventral files, J, cephalon in dorsal view with 12 dorso ventral files, K, detail of an eye with 12 dorso ventral files. L, Location of 21 landmarks on the cephalon. Scale: 2 mm.

Figure 3

Figure 4 A, The frequency distribution of the file number of lenses for all individuals of Prokops prokopi (Chlupáč, 1971). The ‘traditional’ histogram and the Kernel density estimate distribution of file number using the optimal Gaussian bin width. The frequency distribution shows two modes, i.e. a bimodality in the file number of lenses; B, scatter plot of lens number versus file number for all individuals; C, scatter plot of cephalic width (tr.) in mm versus cephalic length (tr.) in mm for all individuals showing a discontinuous and a typical isometric distribution for each population; D, scatter plot of file number versus cephalic width (tr.) in mm for all individuals; E, location of 33 cranidia/cephala of Prokops prokopi (Chlupáč, 1971) in the morphospace defined according to the first two relative warps RW1 and RW2. Axes RW1 and RW2 represent 25.5% and 18.5%, respectively, of the total variance. Thin plate spline deformation grids depicting patterns of shape change between the both populations of Prokops prokopi. Double arrows in (A) and (B) underline the gap.

Figure 4

Table 1 Univariate Analyses of Variance performed (A, B) on cephalic width (in mm) and cephalic length (in mm) showing no significant morphological differentiation between the two populations of Prokops prokopi (Chlupáč, 1971); C, D, on the file and lens number showing a significant differentiation among the two populations of Prokops prokopi (Chlupáč, 1971); E–G, on the first three significant axes showing a significant morphological differentiation among the two populations of Prokops prokopi (Chlupáč, 1971) according to RW1 and RW2.

Figure 5

Figure 5 A, The frequency distribution of the file number of lenses for all individuals of Pedinopariops insequens (Chlupáč, 1977). The ‘traditional’ histogram and the Kernel density estimate distribution of file number using the optimal Gaussian bin width. The frequency distribution shows two modes, i.e. a bimodality in the file number of lenses; B, scatter plot of lens number versus file number for all individuals; C, scatter plot of cephalic width (tr.) in mm versus cephalic length (tr.) in mm for all individuals showing a discontinuous and a typical isometric distribution for each group previously defined according to their file number (group 1 with nine to 13 lenses; group 2 with 16–20 lenses; group 3 with four lenses); D, scatter plot of file number versus cephalic width (tr.) in mm for all individuals; E, location of 88 cranidia/cephala of Pedinopariops insequens (Chlupáč, 1977) in the morphospace defined according to the first two relative warps RW1 and RW2. Axes RW1 and RW2 represent 37% and 14.5%, respectively, of the total variance. Thin plate spline deformation grids depicting patterns of shape change between the both populations of Pedinopariops insequens (Chlupáč, 1977). Double arrows in (A) and (B) underline the gap.

Figure 6

Table 2 Univariate Analyses of Variance performed (A, B) on cephalic width (in mm) and cephalic length (in mm), on the file and lens number (C, D), on centroid size (E), and on the first three significant axes showing a significant morphological differentiation among groups of Pedinopariops insequens (Chlupáč, 1977) according to size, file and lens number and RW1 (F–H).

Figure 7

Figure 6 Scatter plot of size (centroid size CS) versus shape (RW1) for 88 individuals of Pedinopariops insequens (Chlupáč, 1977). A logarithmic regression suggests a slight relationship (y=aln(x)+b; p<0.05) between size and shape and shows a progressive shape change with size increase.

Figure 8

Figure 7 The frequency distribution of (A) the cephalic width (in mm), of (B) the cephalic length (in mm) and of (C) the number of lenses for all individuals of Pedinopariops insequens (Chlupáč, 1977). The ‘traditional’ histogram and the Kernel density estimate distribution using the optimal Gaussian bin width. The frequency distribution shows two clear major modes, i.e. a bimodality in the number of lenses and probably two modes in the cephalic length and width. Double arrows underline the gap.