Shell variability in Tawera gayi (Veneridae) from southern South America: a morphometric approach based on contour analysis

This study analyses the significance of shell morphological variations in the venerid clam Tawera gayi, a typical element of shallow marine soft bottoms in southern South America and the most common species recovered from Late Quaternary marine deposits along the Beagle Channel, Tierra del Fuego. Fo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2011-06, Vol.91 (4), p.815-822
Main Authors: Gordillo, Sandra, Márquez, Federico, Cárdenas, Javiera, Zubimendi, Miguel Ángel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Animals
Autoecology
Biological and medical sciences
Environmental conditions
Fossils
Fourier analysis
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Invertebrates
Mammalia
Marine
Mollusca
Morphology
Salinity
Shells
Tawera gayi
Veneridae
Vertebrata
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Summary:This study analyses the significance of shell morphological variations in the venerid clam Tawera gayi, a typical element of shallow marine soft bottoms in southern South America and the most common species recovered from Late Quaternary marine deposits along the Beagle Channel, Tierra del Fuego. Fossil and modern Tawera shells from different localities around the southern tip of South America were analysed using the Elliptic Fourier Analysis (EFA) method. Taking into account the palaeontological history of this genus in the southern hemisphere, EFA was also performed on shells of Tawera congeners from South Africa (T. philomela) and New Zealand (T. spissa). The use of EFA permitted the distinction between the three Tawera species and geographical differentiation in the T. gayi groups. These morphological variations of T. gayi appear best related to ecophenotypic plasticity as a response to different environmental conditions, although the palaeobiogeographical history of Tawera in South America cannot be ruled out.
ISSN:0025-3154
1469-7769
DOI:10.1017/S0025315410000391