UNSW's Associate Professor Suzanne Hand, who is a specialist in extinct bats and their ecological role in Riversleigh's ancient environments, says the bats could have played a role in the extraordinary preservation
of the ostracod sperm cells.
Hunt and his colleagues drew on large collections
of ostracod fossils from the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, the University of Southern Mississippi, and Louisiana State University, as well as additional fossils they collected themselves, to investigate whether species in which this male / female distinction was most prominent had been more vulnerable than others to changes in their environments.
Their final analysis included 93 different species
of ostracods that lived during the late Cretaceous period, between about 85 and 65 million years ago.
By comparing the numbers of species
of ostracods that have evolved bioluminescence for either mating displays or defensive purposes to related species without bioluminescence, Ellis realized she could gain very useful evidence to support or refute the theory of sexual selection as a driver of species diversification.
There are around 60 species
of ostracods with this type of bioluminescence, but they are only found in the Caribbean.
The microscopic study revealed the fossils contain the preserved internal organs
of the ostracods, including their sexual organs.
Not exact matches
There are two separate instances
of bioluminescence in
ostracods.
However, this is just the tip
of the iceberg
of what it might be possible to learn about evolution from the
ostracod.
One type is used as a defense mechanism, in which threatened
ostracods emit a cloud
of bioluminescence to distract predators.
The giant sperm are thought to have been longer than the male's entire body, but are tightly coiled up inside the sexual organs
of the fossilised freshwater crustaceans, which are known as
ostracods.
Tiny
ostracods thrived in a pool
of water in the cave that was continually enriched by the droppings
of thousands
of bats,» says Professor Archer.
Cross-section
of fossil
ostracod sperm.
But Neil's samples came from a freshwater cave in Riversleigh, Australia, where millions
of years» worth
of bat droppings left the sediment rich in phosphate, which petrified the
ostracods» soft parts.
Matzke - Karasz read his appeal in the 2009 issue
of Cypris, a newsletter for
ostracod researchers, and when Neil sent the data, she was impressed.
Such fellowships have enabled Antarctic scientists to participate in a range
of significant research including using ice cores to determine proxies for the Southern Annular Mode, a molecular study
of Antarctic
ostracods, and investigating particulate carbon and biogenic silica in sea ice in both the Arctic and Antarctic regions.
Researchers found that male
ostracods, also known as seed shrimp, evolved heavily in terms
of their appearance to the point that they missed on other survival factors.
They estimated that about 90 %
of species
of foraminiferans, sponges, bryozoans, mollusks, and echinoderms are known, whereas turbellarians, nematodes, scyphomedusae, ascidians, and
ostracods are particularly poorly studied.