Ecological and paleontological implications of trematode-induced morphospace inflation and pallial sinus reduction in bivalve hosts
Data files
Feb 05, 2026 version files 11.54 MB
-
R_Script__Raw_Data_(Dryad).zip
11.54 MB
-
README.md
2.36 KB
Abstract
Digenean trematodes are parasites with a complex life cycle that often infest shell-bearing mollusks and produce distinct traces on the host skeleton that are recognizable in the fossil record. Here, three bivalve species (Transennella conradina, Abra segmentum, and Chamelea gallina) from Pleistocene and Holocene deposits of Florida and Italy were used to evaluate the hypothesis that trematode infestation affects shell morphology. The morphological effects of infestation were evaluated using geometric morphometrics and the Pallial Sinus Index (PSI = Pallial Sinus Length / Shell Length). For all three host species: (1) large size classes possess higher trematode prevalence (i.e., proportion of specimens possessing trematode-induced pits within a population) and higher per-specimen frequency of trematode-induced scars when compared to smaller size classes, suggesting ontogenetic accumulation of parasites; (2) infested and non-infested specimens significantly differ in shell landmark-based morphology. Geometric morphometric analyses indicate that in two out of three species (Transennella conradina, Abra segmentum): (1) PSI and thin-plate spline analyses suggest significant pallial sinus reduction in infested specimens relative to non-infested; (2) overall morphospace range, estimated by sample-standardized principal component (PC) hypervolume, was inflated with the inclusion of infested specimens. Consistent with previous studies, results indicate that trematode-induced morphological changes may influence the burrowing capabilities of the studied bivalves, affecting their ecological functioning and fitness. Changes in morphospace induced by trematode parasites hamper species delineation and confound morphometric and disparity patterns in the fossil record of infestation-prone species. Excluding fossil specimens with trematode traces can mitigate those confounding effects. Conversely, comparative morphometric analyses of infested and non-infested host specimens may allow us to investigate host responses to parasites over evolutionary time scales.
Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.fqz612k61
Description of the data and file structure
All specimens were photographed individually using a HAYEAR microscope camera. A metric scale was included with each image for calibrated linear measurements for morphological analysis. Landmark data was digitized in TPSDig.
Files and variables
File: R_Script__Raw_Data_(Dryad).zip
Code, Landmark Data Folder:
- Jang et al. 2025.R: R script of all statistical analyses (e.g., Procrustes Analysis, Principal Component Analysis, bootstrap).
- Transennella conradina.tps, Abra segmentum.tps, Chamelea gallina.tps: Raw digitized landmark data. This data is used for Procrustes analysis and subsequent Principal Component analysis.
- Jang et al. 2025. Spreadsheet.csv: Spreadsheet including linear measurements, species information, trematode pit count, locality, and paleontological context. Each row represents one fossil bivalve specimen (species Transennella conradina) collected from the Leisey Shell Pit 03A site (Fort Thompson Formation, Florida). The table records morphological measurements, taphonomic features, taxonomic confidence, and contextual site information for each specimen. This table documents individual fossil shells, combining taxonomy, measurements, morphology, paleoecological damage, and collection context to support morphometric and paleoecological analyses.
Precision Test Folder:
- Precision Test Spreadsheet CSV.csv and Precision Test Spreadsheet.xlsx: Spreadsheet of 50 repeated measurements of the largest (289184-L(53)) and the smallest (289163-R(24)) individuals among all specimens.
- Precision Test.R: Precision test of repeated measurements to assess error ranges of the microscope camera used to photograph the specimens.
All units of measurement are in mm.
Code/software
RStudio (Software capable of running R) is used for statistical analysis and data visualization.
RStudio (2023.12.1+402)
Packages required:
- geomorph
- vegan
- dynRB
- coin
- boot
Access information
Other publicly accessible locations of the data:
- N/A
Data was derived from the following sources:
- N/A
