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110-million-years-old fossil suggests early parasitism in shrimps.

ABSTRACT: Direct evidence of paleo-parasitism in crustaceans is very scarce. Epicaridean isopods are obligatory parasites of crustaceans, including decapods such as crabs, shrimps, and lobsters. Their interaction with hosts is known from fossils as far back as the Jurassic through deformations of the branchial cuticle on the hosts. Their small size and low fossilization potential, outside of those larvae that have been found in amber, makes understanding the group's evolution challenging. Here, we report the oldest evidence of paleo-parasitism in marine shrimps and an imprint of a putative adult parasite that appears to be an epicaridean isopod. Our results suggest that the parasite-host interaction between epicaridean isopods and marine shrimps started at least 110 million years ago, and the Tethys Sea was a possible dispersal pathway for this lineage of parasites during the Jurassic and Cretaceous, as known for other marine organisms through most of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic. The oldest fossil records of bopyrid swellings associated with a large number of decapods from the Jurassic in Europe suggest that the Tethys region was a center of epicaridean distribution as a whole. Recent parasitic isopods found on dendrobranchiate shrimps are restricted to the Indo-Pacific and may represent a relict group of a lineage of parasites more widely distributed in the Mesozoic.

SUBMITTER: Lima D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10477257 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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110-million-years-old fossil suggests early parasitism in shrimps.

Lima Daniel D Alencar Damares R DR Santana William W Oliveira Naiara C NC Saraiva Antônio Á F AÁF Oliveira Gustavo R GR Boyko Christopher B CB Pinheiro Allysson P AP

Scientific reports 20230904 1

Direct evidence of paleo-parasitism in crustaceans is very scarce. Epicaridean isopods are obligatory parasites of crustaceans, including decapods such as crabs, shrimps, and lobsters. Their interaction with hosts is known from fossils as far back as the Jurassic through deformations of the branchial cuticle on the hosts. Their small size and low fossilization potential, outside of those larvae that have been found in amber, makes understanding the group's evolution challenging. Here, we report ...[more]

PMID: 37666850

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Project description:BACKGROUND:Sexual system is a key factor affecting the genetic diversity, population structure, genome structure and the evolutionary potential of species. The sexual system androdioecy - where males and hermaphrodites coexist in populations - is extremely rare, yet is found in three crustacean groups, barnacles, a genus of clam shrimps Eulimnadia, and in the order Notostraca, the tadpole shrimps. In the ancient crustacean order Notostraca, high morphological conservatism contrasts with a wide diversity of sexual systems, including androdioecy. An understanding of the evolution of sexual systems in this group has been hampered by poor phylogenetic resolution and confounded by the widespread occurrence of cryptic species. Here we use a multigene supermatrix for 30 taxa to produce a comprehensive phylogenetic reconstruction of Notostraca. Based on this phylogenetic reconstruction we use character mapping techniques to investigate the evolution of sexual systems. We also tested the hypothesis that reproductive assurance has driven the evolution of androdioecy in Notostraca. RESULTS:Character mapping analysis showed that sexual system is an extremely flexible trait within Notostraca, with repeated shifts between gonochorism and androdioecy, the latter having evolved a minimum of five times. In agreement with the reproductive assurance hypothesis androdioecious notostracans are found at significantly higher latitudes than gonochoric ones indicating that post glacial re-colonisation may have selected for the higher colonisation ability conferred by androdioecy. CONCLUSIONS:In contrast to their conserved morphology, sexual system in Notostraca is highly labile and the rare reproductive mode androdioecy has evolved repeatedly within the order. Furthermore, we conclude that this lability of sexual system has been maintained for at least 250 million years and may have contributed to the long term evolutionary persistence of Notostraca. Our results further our understanding of the evolution of androdioecy and indicate that reproductive assurance is a recurrent theme involved in the evolution of this sexual system.

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110-million-years-old fossil suggests early parasitism in shrimps.

Publications

110-million-years-old fossil suggests early parasitism in shrimps.

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