Journalartikel

Jahr der Veröffentlichung: 2019

Seiten: 567-574

Zeitschrift: iScience

Bandnummer: 20

Open Access Status: Gold

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2019.09.034

Verlag: Cell Press

Abstract: 
Excellently preserved fossils often provide important insights into evolutionary histories and adaptations to environmental change in Earth's biogeologic record. Mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber, for example, is a proven reservoir for spectacular findings. Here we document the first record of a fossil land snail with periostracal hairs preserved in amber. We interpret the development of hairs as an adaptation to the tropical forest environment, serving as a mechanism to increase adhesion of the snail to plants during foraging while collecting and transporting seeds in the process. The present record coincides with a major global radiation of angiosperms, a main food resource for terrestrial snails. As such, the expansion of flowering plants likely triggered this evolutionary adaptation and, thus, the diversification of land snails in the Cretaceous.

Harvard-Zitierstil: Neubauer, T., Xing, L. and Jochum, A. (2019) Land Snail with Periostracal Hairs Preserved in Burmese Amber, iScience, 20, pp. 567-574. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2019.09.034

APA-Zitierstil: Neubauer, T., Xing, L., & Jochum, A. (2019). Land Snail with Periostracal Hairs Preserved in Burmese Amber. iScience. 20, 567-574. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2019.09.034