Body-size evolution in gastropods across the Plio-Pleistocene extinction in the western Atlantic.

ABSTRACT: The Plio-Pleistocene turnover event in the western Atlantic following the closure of the Central American Seaway involved high rates of extinction for both gastropod and bivalve molluscs. This extinction was associated with declining nutrient conditions and has been presumed to be associated with a decrease in molluscan body size. Previous work which has been concordant with this expectation, however, has either focused on bivalves or not considered the effects of the recovery post extinction. In three phylogenetically diverse clades, we found that body-size evolution in gastropods across the turnover event is likely tied to ecology. One clade increased in size, one decreased, and another exhibited no substantial change. Individual species lineages exhibit a mixture of microevolutionary ch

SUBMITTER: Anderson BM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11642969 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature