Quantitative Study of the Morphological Variations among Dzieduszyckia Populations from the Devonian Rongxian Formation, South China and their Influencing Factors

Abstract

The rhynchonellide brachiopod Dzieduszyckia Siemiradzki is widely distributed in the Lower Famennian strata, and exhibits a wide range of morphological variations among populations. 1272 autochthonous Devonian Rongxian Dzieduszyckia fossils were collected from three populations in South China, namely the Dazhai, Dalong, and Longmi sections. A series of quantitative morphological analyses were conducted to understand the morphological variation among populations and identify the triggers responsible for such variations. The results show that the Dazhai population differs significantly in morphospace from the Dalong and Longmi populations, while the latter two exhibit more similar morphological features, suggesting that geographic distribution may play a key role in affecting Dzieduszyckia morphology. The Longmi population shows a distinct morphospace from the Dazhai population and an overlapped morphospace with the Dalong population, indicating that habitat may not be the controlling factor. Lastly, the Dazhai and Dalong populations share some morphological similarities, but the Dazhai and Longmi populations occupy completely different morphospaces, indicating that evolution had a greater impact on phenotypic divergence than habitat. Our findings suggest that geographic distribution is the predominant factor influencing the morphological variation of Dzieduszyckia, while evolution and living habitat are less significant, the former of which might play a more important role.