Dataset Information

Glowing seashells: diversity of fossilized coloration patterns on coral reef-associated cone snail (Gastropoda: Conidae) shells from the Neogene of the Dominican Republic.

ABSTRACT: The biology of modern Conidae (cone snails)--which includes the hyperdiverse genus Conus--has been intensively studied, but the fossil record of the clade remains poorly understood, particularly within an evolutionary framework. Here, ultraviolet light is used to reveal and characterize the original shell coloration patterns of 28 species of cone snails from three Neogene coral reef-associated deposits from the Cibao Valley, northern Dominican Republic. These fossils come from the upper Miocene Cercado Fm. and lower Pliocene Gurabo Fm., and range in age from about 6.6-4.8 Ma. Comparison of the revealed coloration patterns with those of extant species allow the taxa to be assigned to three genera of cone snails (Profundiconus, Conasprella, and Conus) and at least nine subgenera. Thirteen members of these phylogenetically diverse reef faunas are described as new species. These include: Profundiconus? hennigi, Conasprella (Ximeniconus) ageri, Conus anningae, Conus lyelli, Conus (Atlanticonus?) franklinae, Conus (Stephanoconus) gouldi, Conus (Stephanoconus) bellacoensis, Conus (Ductoconus) cashi, Conus (Dauciconus) garrisoni, Conus (Dauciconus?) zambaensis, Conus (Spuriconus?) kaesleri, Conus (Spuriconus?) lombardii, and Conus (Lautoconus?) carlottae. Each of the three reef deposits contain a minimum of 14-16 cone snail species, levels of diversity that are similar to modern Indo-Pacific reef systems. Finally, most of the 28 species can be assigned to modern clades and thus have important implications for understanding the biogeographic and temporal histories of these clades in tropical America.

SUBMITTER: Hendricks JR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4382297 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Glowing seashells: diversity of fossilized coloration patterns on coral reef-associated cone snail (Gastropoda: Conidae) shells from the Neogene of the Dominican Republic.

Hendricks Jonathan R JR

PloS one 20150401 4

The biology of modern Conidae (cone snails)--which includes the hyperdiverse genus Conus--has been intensively studied, but the fossil record of the clade remains poorly understood, particularly within an evolutionary framework. Here, ultraviolet light is used to reveal and characterize the original shell coloration patterns of 28 species of cone snails from three Neogene coral reef-associated deposits from the Cibao Valley, northern Dominican Republic. These fossils come from the upper Miocene ...[more]

PMID: 25830769

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Project description:Hematophagy arose independently multiple times during metazoan evolution, with several lineages of vampire animals particularly diversified in invertebrates. However, the biochemistry of hematophagy has been studied in a few species of direct medical interest and is still underdeveloped in most invertebrates, as in general is the study of venom toxins. In cone snails, leeches, arthropods and snakes, the strong target specificity of venom toxins uniquely aligns them to industrial and academic pursuits (pharmacological applications, pest control etc.) and provides a biochemical tool for studying biological activities including cell signalling and immunological response. Neogastropod snails (cones, oyster drills etc.) are carnivorous and include active predators, scavengers, grazers on sessile invertebrates and hematophagous parasites; most of them use venoms to efficiently feed. It has been hypothesized that trophic innovations were the main drivers of rapid radiation of Neogastropoda in the late Cretaceous. We present here the first molecular characterization of the alimentary secretion of a non-conoidean neogastropod, Colubraria reticulata. Colubrariids successfully feed on the blood of fishes, throughout the secretion into the host of a complex mixture of anaesthetics and anticoagulants. We used a NGS RNA-Seq approach, integrated with differential expression analyses and custom searches for putative secreted feeding-related proteins, to describe in detail the salivary and mid-oesophageal transcriptomes of this Mediterranean vampire snail, with functional and evolutionary insights on major families of bioactive molecules.A remarkably low level of overlap was observed between the gene expression in the two target tissues, which also contained a high percentage of putatively secreted proteins when compared to the whole body. At least 12 families of feeding-related proteins were identified, including: 1) anaesthetics, such as ShK Toxin-containing proteins and turripeptides (ion-channel blockers), Cysteine-rich secretory proteins (CRISPs), Adenosine Deaminase (ADA); 2) inhibitors of primary haemostasis, such as novel vWFA domain-containing proteins, the Ectonucleotide pyrophosphatase/phosphodiesterase family member 5 (ENPP5) and the wasp Antigen-5; 3) anticoagulants, such as TFPI-like multiple Kunitz-type protease inhibitors, Peptidases S1 (PS1), CAP/ShKT domain-containing proteins, Astacin metalloproteases and Astacin/ShKT domain-containing proteins; 4) additional proteins, such the Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme (ACE: vasopressive) and the cytolytic Porins.Colubraria feeding physiology seems to involve inhibitors of both primary and secondary haemostasis, anaesthetics, a vasoconstrictive enzyme to reduce feeding time and tissue-degrading proteins such as Porins and Astacins. The complexity of Colubraria venomous cocktail and the divergence from the arsenal of the few neogastropods studied to date (mostly conoideans) suggest that biochemical diversification of neogastropods might be largely underestimated and worth of extensive investigation.

Dataset Information

Glowing seashells: diversity of fossilized coloration patterns on coral reef-associated cone snail (Gastropoda: Conidae) shells from the Neogene of the Dominican Republic.

Publications

Glowing seashells: diversity of fossilized coloration patterns on coral reef-associated cone snail (Gastropoda: Conidae) shells from the Neogene of the Dominican Republic.

Similar Datasets

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