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Science 3 September 2004:
Vol. 305. no. 5689, pp. 1453 - 1455
DOI: 10.1126/science.1101009
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Reports

Testing Predator-Driven Evolution with Paleozoic Crinoid Arm Regeneration

Tomasz K. Baumiller1* and Forest J. Gahn2*

Regenerating arms of crinoids represent direct evidence of nonlethal attacks by predators and provide an opportunity for exploring the importance of predation through geologic time. Analysis of 11 Paleozoic crinoid Lagerstätten revealed a significant increase in arm regeneration during the Siluro-Devonian. During this interval, referred to as the Middle Paleozoic Marine Revolution, the diversity of shell-crushing predators increased, and antipredatory morphologies among invertebrate prey, such as crinoids, became more common. Crinoid armregeneration data suggest an increase in nonlethal attacks at this time and represent a causal link between those patterns, which implies an important role for predator-driven evolution.

1 University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology, Ann Arbor, MI 48105, USA.
2 Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, P.O. Box 37012, NHB MRC 121, Washington, DC 20013–7012, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: tomaszb{at}umich.edu (T.K.B.); gahn.forest{at}nmnh.si.edu (F.J.G.)

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Predatory drill holes and partial mortality in Devonian colonial metazoans.
M. A. Wilson and P. D. Taylor (2006)
Geology 34, 565-568
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The "Age of Crinoids": A Mississippian Biodiversity Spike Coincident with Widespread Carbonate Ramps.
T. W. KAMMER and W. I. AUSICH (2006)
Palaios 21, 238-248
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Secondary Evolutionary Escalation Between Brachiopods and Enemies of Other Prey.
M. Kowalewski, A. P. Hoffmeister, T. K. Baumiller, and R. K. Bambach (2005)
Science 308, 1774-1777
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)