Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia (Sep 2024)

ASYMMETRY IN <em>THECIDELLINA</em> (BRACHIOPODA) FROM THE PLIOCENE-PLEISTOCENE OF CURAÇAO, NETHERLANDS ANTILLES: PHENOTYPIC NOT GENOTYPIC

  • David A. T. Harper,
  • MABEL LA TURNER,
  • STEPHEN K. DONOVAN,
  • ROGER W. PORTELL

DOI
https://doi.org/10.54103/2039-4942/22870
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 130, no. 3

Abstract

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Shape analysis of a large sample of the thecideid brachiopod Thecidellina from the Pliocene and Pleistocene rocks on the Caribbean island of Curaçao highlights asymmetry within the population. However, the 30 analysed specimens display a lack of a consistent asymmetry. The brachiopods were cemented to substrates by a cicatrix, accommodated by a change in shell structure. The plastic morphology of Thecidellina may have been due to overcrowding and competition for resources on limited substrates.

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