Vol. 60, 2021

(update: 2021.01.06; 02.18)
 

Preliminary Study of Temperature Effects on Size and Shape in the Modern Spinicaudatan Eulimnadia texana (Crustacea: Branchiopoda)

Manja Hethke^1,*, Stephen C. Weeks², Veronika Schöttle¹, and D. Christopher Rogers³

¹Institut für Geologische Wissenschaften, Freie Universität Berlin, Malteserstraße 74-100, D-12249 Berlin, Germany. *Correspondence:E-mai: manja.hethke@fu-berlin.de (Hethke)
E-mail: schoettle@icloud.com (Schöttle)
²Department of Biology, The University of Akron, Akron, Ohio, U.S.A., 44325-3908; E-mail: scw@uakron.edu (Weeks)
³Kansas Biological Survey, and The Biodiversity Institute, The University of Kansas, Higuchi Hall, 2101 Constant Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66047-3759 USA. E-mail: branchiopod@gmail.com (Rogers)

Received 2 September 2020 / Accepted 14 December 2020
Communicated by Benny K.K. Chan

Studies of temperature effects on morphology in Spinicaudata have focused on length, with no data on shape. To fill this gap, size and shape variability in response to temperature fluctuations was investigated by rearing the modern spinicaudatan Eulimnadia texana. Two days after hydration, juvenile individuals were separated into four different temperature treatments: 20°C, 23°C, 26°C, and 29°C. Hermaphrodite size and shape were analysed by looking at linear combinations of size variables and using Fourier shape analysis; methods that are also used to describe fossil size and shape for better comparison. Size differences were considerable, with reduced growth at low and high temperatures and accelerated growth at the optimum temperature of 26°C, revealing that the reaction of size to increasing temperature is non-linear. The height of the dorsal margin, which is associated with space for egg production in Eulimnadia texana, accounts for a high amount of size variability in this species and, presumably, in most of the Limnadiidae. Hermaphrodite shapes reared under temperatures of 20°C and 29°C are statistically distinct, while intermediate temperatures yield intermediate shapes. The rate of shape change along temperature is comparatively low between 23°C and 26°C and accelerated at lower and higher temperatures. With increasing temperature, the highest point of the dorsal margin is shifted towards the anterior of the carapace, while it assumes a median position at 20°C. Our result that temperature has strong effects on carapace size and shape implies considerable ecophenotypic variability in Spinicaudata.

Key words: Freshwater ecology, Limnadiidae, Phenotypic plasticity, Spinicaudata, Temperature.

Citation: Hethke M, Weeks SC, Schöttle V, Rogers DC. 2021. Preliminary study of temperature effects on size and shape in the modern spinicaudatan Eulimnadia texana (Crustacea: Branchiopoda). Zool Stud 60:2. doi:10.6620/ZS.2021.60-02.

Supplementary Materials: Table S1 | Table S2