Jo WolfeNov 6, 2023
Today we publish a new paper on a molecular #phylogeny of true #crabs. We find crabs transitioned from marine to non-marine environments 7-17x over 100+ myr! This culminates 15+ years(!) of effort from an international team! 1/4
https://academic.oup.com/sysbio/advance-article/doi/10.1093/sysbio/syad066/7370615
Convergent Adaptation of True Crabs (Decapoda: Brachyura) to a Gradient of Terrestrial Environments

Abstract. For much of terrestrial biodiversity, the evolutionary pathways of adaptation from marine ancestors are poorly understood and have usually been viewed

OUP Academic
Show threadJo WolfeNov 6, 2023
We assembled new datasets describing the natural history, ecology, and physiology of #terrestrialization (exciting to include personal field observations - not easy when you usually study fossils). Left=marine, middle=direct path to land, right=path through freshwater. 2/4
Show threadJo WolfeNov 6, 2023
We compared calibration methods with a chronospace thanks to @phyloprog. I was excited for FBD derived results, but it turns out these models don't always work well without a morphological matrix.
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Show threadJo WolfeNov 6, 2023
We used threshold models to estimate the change in "grade" of terrestriality and found it is 10-100x harder to move to beach/forest from intertidal/estuarine. Perhaps #crabs inform on the otherwise hidden processes of #terrestrialization in early arthropods 400+ mya!
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Show threadMarc Robinson-Rechavi
@jopabinia congratulations, this looks super interesting!
Nov 6, 2023 at 5:28pmWeb