形态学通常是功能生态学的有效代表,1,2,3,4,5和评估形态学,解剖学,和生态变化可以更深入地了解多样化和宏观进化的本质。现代海洋生态系统中只有几属的舌类动物和双类动物,导致它们经常被称为“活化石”。\“13,14,15推动这种下降的动态仍然不确定,尚未确定形态和生态多样性是否相关下降。这里,我们应用几何形态计量学来重建通过显生代的手足动物的整体形态空间占用,结果表明,奥陶纪早期达到了最大的形态空间占用。在这个多样性达到顶峰的时候,具有亚矩形外壳形状的舌类已经具有几个进化特征,例如地幔运河的重新排列和伪中间区域的减少,所有现代信息形式的共同点。奥陶纪末期的大规模灭绝对舌类动物有不同的影响,不成比例地擦拭那些具有圆形外壳形状的形式,虽然具有亚矩形壳的形式在奥陶纪末期和二叠纪-三叠纪大灭绝中幸存下来,留下的动物群主要由信息形式组成。对于双药,在整个显生代,形态空间占据和表栖生活策略保持一致。随着时间的推移,形态空间占据,当考虑使用解剖和生态分析时,这表明,现代手足动物的有限的形态和生态多样性反映了进化的偶然性,而不是确定性的过程。
Morphology usually serves as an effective proxy for functional ecology,1,2,3,4,5 and evaluating morphological, anatomical, and ecological changes permits a deeper understanding of the nature of diversification and macroevolution.5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 Lingulid (order Lingulida) brachiopods are both diverse and abundant during the early Palaeozoic but decrease in diversity over time, with only a few genera of linguloids and discinoids present in modern marine ecosystems, resulting in them frequently being referred to as \"living fossils.\"13,14,15 The dynamics that drove this decline remain uncertain, and it has not been determined if there is an associated decline in morphological and ecological diversity. Here, we apply geometric morphometrics to reconstruct global morphospace occupation for lingulid brachiopods through the Phanerozoic, with results showing that maximum morphospace occupation was reached by the Early Ordovician. At this time of peak diversity, linguloids with a sub-rectangular shell shape already possessed several evolutionary features, such as the rearrangement of mantle canals and reduction of the pseudointerarea, common to all modern infaunal forms. The end Ordovician mass extinction has a differential effect on linguloids, disproportionally wiping out those forms with a rounded shell shape, while forms with sub-rectangular shells survived both the end Ordovician and the Permian-Triassic mass extinctions, leaving a fauna predominantly composed of infaunal forms. For discinoids, both morphospace occupation and epibenthic life strategies remain consistent through the Phanerozoic. Morphospace occupation over time, when considered using anatomical and ecological analyses, suggests that the limited morphological and ecological diversity of modern lingulid brachiopods reflects evolutionary
contingency rather than deterministic processes.