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View - Kowalewski, M. - Virginia Tech

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BAUMILLER AND GAHN—PARASITISM ON MARINE INVERTEBRATESresponse to parasitism. A phylogenetic analysisusing 26 genera of monobathrid camerates showedthat: 1) the most parsimonious distribution required4 independent events of tube evolution, and 2) thatthe tubeless sister taxa of tubed crinoids wereinfested by platyceratids, while the tubed crinoidswere generally uninfested.The results of the Gahn and Baumiller (2001)study were consistent with the hypothesis that thetube evolved in response to parasitism; but escalationgoes a step further and invokes an arms race. Thus,adaptations that counter the effectiveness of enemiesshould be rendered ineffective by morphological orbehavioral evolution of those enemies. Didplatyceratids counter the evolution of exaggeratedanal tubes with such changes? Baumiller (1990)reported numerous individuals of the Mississippianbatocrinid crinoids, Batocrinus icosidactylus andBatocrinus irregularis, with circular, cylindrical totapered holes penetrating the plates of the tegmenat the base of a long, slender, multi-plated tube withan anal opening at its apex (Fig. 5). A sectionedspecimen of another tube-bearing Mississippianbatocrinid, Macrocrinus mundulus, infested by aplatyceratid, revealed a hole in the base of the tubedirectly beneath the gastropod. The presence of U-shaped attachment scars, rare instances of multipleholes, and healed (or incomplete) holes was used asevidence that the holes in crinoids did not representpredation, but parasitism. Furthermore, it indicatesthat the tube was not a foolproof strategy of escapefrom infestation by snails, as it could be counteredby drilling. If platyceratid drilling evolved inresponse to the evolution of the tube, the “tit-fortat”would represent a case of escalation.PLATYCERATIDS ASPARASITES ON OTHER TAXACrinoids are not the only echinoderm groupassociated with platyceratids. Several instances ofplatyceratids attached to blastoid calyxes areknown, including two Devonian and twoMississippian examples (Fig. 6). Levin and Fay(1964) described several specimens of Diploblastuskirkwoodensis (Mississippian), each with a smallFIGURE 5—Examples of Mississippian batocrinidcrinoids with drillholes. Scale bar = 0.5 cm.1, Macrocrinus mundulus (P19426), lateral view ofspecimen. Note the long anal tube extendingbeyond the tips of the arms and the platyceratidpositioned on the tegmen between the arm bases.2, Photomicrograph of ground section of samespecimen. 3, Batocrinus icosidactylus (P19402),lateral view showing drillhole at base of broken-offanal tube. 4, Batocrinus icosidactylus, lateral viewshowing two complete drillholes near base of analtube. 5, Batocrinus icosidactylus (P19394), lateralview of partial calyx with complete drillhole. 6,Batocrinus irregularis (P19393), lateral view ofspecimen with a robust tube penetrated by drillhole.All specimens housed in the Field Museum ofNatural History, Chicago, Illinois.203

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