> The outside (or ‘edge’) of the occlupanid is often smooth, but many species sport palps, or tabs. These have unguessable purposes for mating, locomotion, defense, take your pick.
I propose that these palps or tabs are remnants of the reproductive cycle, vestigial points of contact in the budding process. This phenomenon can be observed in some other classes within phylum Plasticae, and I see no reason to assume it is not happening here.
This is where the morphological approach falls down. This is an "analogous trait", i.e. something that's arrived at through two independent evolutionary pathways.
These palps are due to a reproduction process called "stamping". Sounds violent, but that's nature for you. This is an asexual process. The tabs give an advantage to the overall clutch of young, not individuals.
There's a morphologically similar trait in other Plasticae that's the result of "injection moulding". This involves the mating of two (or sometimes more) parents. This method allows for the evolution of more complex features.
Overmoulding is also possible, which produces symbiotic organisms.
I distinctly remember seeing an exhibition of this work in Los Angeles in the early aughts. For the life of me I can't remember where. The photos were shot with a macro lens and blown up so that each specimen was ... 12" square? maybe bigger?
Even then there were dozens upon dozens of them on display. It was mind bending.
When I was a child, I remember going to the nearby children's museum and seeing an exhibit with 1 million bread tags. It was supposed to help conceptualize the number.
I've been getting listicle spam/ads with a CTA promising to reveal why you should always carry one of these in your wallet. To this day I never found out why that is!
Well, if the ecological niches are the same there could be analogous developments that are not homologies. So I without a reconstruction of the environment I'm not certain that the proposed tree is valid.
19 comments
[ 5.3 ms ] story [ 36.5 ms ] threadI propose that these palps or tabs are remnants of the reproductive cycle, vestigial points of contact in the budding process. This phenomenon can be observed in some other classes within phylum Plasticae, and I see no reason to assume it is not happening here.
These palps are due to a reproduction process called "stamping". Sounds violent, but that's nature for you. This is an asexual process. The tabs give an advantage to the overall clutch of young, not individuals.
There's a morphologically similar trait in other Plasticae that's the result of "injection moulding". This involves the mating of two (or sometimes more) parents. This method allows for the evolution of more complex features.
Overmoulding is also possible, which produces symbiotic organisms.
Must be one of the most submitted pages. Is there a list?
Even then there were dozens upon dozens of them on display. It was mind bending.
We need to go back there.