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Land Snail with Periostracal Hairs Preserved in Burmese Amber.

ABSTRACT: Excellently preserved fossils often provide important insights into evolutionary histories and adaptations to environmental change in Earth's biogeologic record. Mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber, for example, is a proven reservoir for spectacular findings. Here we document the first record of a fossil land snail with periostracal hairs preserved in amber. We interpret the development of hairs as an adaptation to the tropical forest environment, serving as a mechanism to increase adhesion of the snail to plants during foraging while collecting and transporting seeds in the process. The present record coincides with a major global radiation of angiosperms, a main food resource for terrestrial snails. As such, the expansion of flowering plants likely triggered this evolutionary adaptation and, thus, the diversification of land snails in the Cretaceous.

SUBMITTER: Neubauer TA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6834951 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Land Snail with Periostracal Hairs Preserved in Burmese Amber.

Neubauer Thomas A TA Xing Lida L Jochum Adrienne A

iScience 20191012

Excellently preserved fossils often provide important insights into evolutionary histories and adaptations to environmental change in Earth's biogeologic record. Mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber, for example, is a proven reservoir for spectacular findings. Here we document the first record of a fossil land snail with periostracal hairs preserved in amber. We interpret the development of hairs as an adaptation to the tropical forest environment, serving as a mechanism to increase adhesion of the snai ...[more]

PMID: 31611056

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