How ancient are ancient asexuals?

Ancient asexual animal groups, such as bdelloid rotifers and darwinuloid ostracods, are excellent model organisms to study the effects of long-term asexuality. However, the absolute length of time that these groups have been fully asexual is mostly ignored. In the case of the darwinuloid ostracods,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the Royal Society. B, Biological sciences Biological sciences, 2003-04, Vol.270 (1516), p.723-729
Main Authors: Martens, Koen, Rossetti, Giampaolo, Horne, David J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alicenula
Ancient Asexuality
Animals
Asexuality
Biological Evolution
Biological taxonomies
Cretaceous
Darwinula
Darwinuloidea
Evolution
Exoskeletons
Female
Female animals
Fossils
Inlets
Jurassic
Male
Male animals
Martens
Mollusca - classification
Mollusca - physiology
Ostracoda
Reproduction, Asexual - physiology
Sexual dimorphism
Time Factors
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Summary:Ancient asexual animal groups, such as bdelloid rotifers and darwinuloid ostracods, are excellent model organisms to study the effects of long-term asexuality. However, the absolute length of time that these groups have been fully asexual is mostly ignored. In the case of the darwinuloid ostracods, the fossil record shows that sexual reproduction disappeared almost completely after the end of Permian mass extinction (ca. 245 Myr ago), although several putative records of males from the Mesozoic obscure the exact time-frame of obligate asexuality in darwinuloids. Here, we re-examine the Mesozoic darwinuloid records, with regard to the reproductive mode of the assemblages. Three criteria to distinguish males in fossil populations (lack of brood pouch, position of muscle scars and size dimorphism) are used here to test for the presence of males in darwinuloid assemblages. A large, well-preserved assemblage of Darwinula leguminella (Forbes 1885) from the latest Jurassic (ca. 145 Myr ago) of England is found to be markedly variable in size and shape, but nevertheless turns out to be an all female assemblage. The exceptional preservation of the material also allows the re-assignment of this species to the extant darwinuloid genus Alicenula. All other putative dimorphic darwinuloid records from the Mesozoic are re-examined using the same criteria. The hypothesis that these assemblages represent bisexual populations is rejected for all post-Triassic (ca. 208 Myr ago) records.
ISSN:0962-8452
1471-2954
DOI:10.1098/rspb.2002.2270