Fratini, Sara and Vannini, Marco and Cannicci, Stefano and Schubart, Christoph D. (2005) Tree-climbing mangrove crabs: a case of convergent evolution. EVOLUTIONARY ECOLOGY RESEARCH, 7 (2). pp. 219-233. ISSN 1522-0613,
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Several crab species of the families Sesarmidae and Grapsidae (Crustacea: Brachyura: Grapsoidea) are known to climb mangrove trees. They show different degrees of dependence on arboreal life. with only a few of them thriving in the tree canopies and feeding on fresh leaves. Some of the sesarmid tree-dwelling crabs share a number of morphological characters and therefore have been considered to be of monophyletic origin. A phylogeny derived from 1038 base pairs of the mitochondrial DNA encoding the small and large ribosomal subunits was used to examine the evolutionary origin of tree-climbing behaviour within the Grapsoidea, and to determine whether morphological and ecological similarities are based on convergence or common ancestry. The analysis included African, American and Asian arboreal crab species plus several representatives of ground-living forms. Our results suggest that the very specialized arboreal lifestyle evolved several times independently within grapsoid mangroves crabs. providing another striking example of the likelihood of convergence in evolutionary biology and the degree of phenetic and ecological potential to be found among marine organisms.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | SESARMA-LEPTOSOMA DECAPODA; GRAPSIDAE; CRUSTACEA; PREFERENCES; BRACHYURA; SUBSTITUTION; AUSTRALIA; INFERENCE; FORESTS; MESSA; convergent evolution; Grapsidae; mangrove crabs; molecular phylogeny; Sesarmidae |
| Subjects: | 500 Science > 590 Zoological sciences |
| Divisions: | Biology, Preclinical Medicine > Institut für Zoologie > Evolutionary Ecology (Prof. Dr. Erhard Strohm) |
| Depositing User: | Dr. Gernot Deinzer |
| Date Deposited: | 31 May 2021 05:34 |
| Last Modified: | 31 May 2021 05:34 |
| URI: | https://pred.uni-regensburg.de/id/eprint/36516 |
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