Subject: Geology

Institute: Science
Class: M. Sc. Semester II
Paper: GLM-204 (Micropaleontology and Oceanography)
Topic: Ostracoda

Dr. Dinesh Kumar Naik

Assistant Professor
Department of Geology
Institute of Science
Banaras Hindu University
Varanasi 221 005
Email: dnaik.geo@bhu.ac.in
Ostracoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
 Phylum: Arthropoda
Class:
Trilobita Class:
Ostracoda
 Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Crustacea
Class: Ostracoda
These are minute segmented crustaceans belonging to the phylum Arthropoda, living
both as benthic and planktic, with their body covered by cuticles which secrete a bivalve
shell, known as carapace. They range in age from upper Cambrian to Recent.

Carl Linne in 1758 and O.F. Muller in 1776 were the first to describe ostracodes, and since
then, more than 65,000 living and fossil species have been reported.

Ostracodes have bivalve carapaces that are weakly to strongly calcified. The carapaces
are usually 0.5–2.0 mm long, but some forms reach a size of 30 mm.

They are benthic, nektobenthic and pelagic.

They are one of the most successful groups to colonize diverse environments from deep
marine to shallow marine, lakes and fresh water to damp, terrestrial environments.
Orientation:
The orientation of extant groups of
ostracodes is easier, but it is
problematic and uncertain in extinct
groups.
There are several criteria for
determining the orientation of valves.

The hinge is located on the dorsal

margin.

The ventral margin is often concave

and may have prominent spines,
flanges and wing-like alae that
generally point towards the posterior.

The adductor muscle scars are

situated in the anterior half of the
valve.

The greatest width of the carapace is

posterior and the greatest height in
living ostracodes is anterior in position.

Sulcus in several forms is in the

anterior position.
 Morphology:

Ostracodes have the typical body plan of

the crustaceans, comprising head, thorax
and pairs of appendages.

The body is enclosed in a cuticle and its

fold on either side of the body secretes a
bivalve shell, known as a carapace.

The carapace originates from the head

region, and consists of two valves that are
hinged along the dorsal margin.

The carapaces are generally bean-shaped,

but their shapes may be extremely varied,
including inflated, compressed,
spheroidal and rectangular.
When the carapace is open the
appendages can protrude between
the valves for locomotion, feeding,
and reproduction.
The valves are closed by the
adductor muscles, which are
attached directly to each valve
usually just anterior of the mid-
length of the animal.

These attachment points, called

the adductor muscle scars, can
often be seen through the exterior
of the carapace.

The pattern of adductor muscle

scars is a useful feature for higher
taxonomic levels.
There are two main parts to each
valve: the outer lamella and
the inner lamella.

The wall of the carapace consists of

an outer and inner lamella, and the
contact between the two is the line
of concrescence.

The outer lamella constitutes the

largest proportion of the valves and
forms the outer-most surface.

The inner lamella is the layer of the

valve inside of the carapace.
 The outer lamella has numerous
small pores, which are holes in the
carapace wall through which sensory
setae protrude.

There are two types of pores, normal

pores consisting of a simple hole,
sometimes with a rim or lip (left),
and sieve pores, which have a sieve-
like covering over the hole.

Some species have over 2000 pores

on each valve, such as Neonesidea
oligodentata, a marine species
In addition to the pores on the outer
lamella, there are also marginal pore
canals (sometimes called radial pore
canals) located on the edges of the
valves, except along the hinge.

Ostracods sense their surroundings

using sensilla (hairs or bristles) which
project through the carapace via pore
canals, at the margins these are
called marginal pore canals.

Marginal pore canals can be straight

or branched, and are usually more
numerous along the anterior margins
of the carapace.

They run through the area where the

outer and inner lamella meet, called
the fused zone.
Ornamentations:
The surface of the outer lamella can be
smooth, or have ornamentation in the form of
bumps (tubercles or nodes), depressions
(sulcus), spines, pits, ridges, striations, and
reticulation.

It has been shown that in one species

ornamentation on the outer lamella can be
influenced by environmental conditions.

Cyprideis torosa is a brackish water ostracod

found in European coastal waters. Typically
specimens found in high salinity environments
are smooth, while those found in low salinity
environments (1.5 to 0.2%) have nodes (=
tubercles).

This is caused when the animals moult; when

moulting, the ostracod fails to regulate
increasing osmotic pressure in low salinity
environments, resulting in epidermal cells to
rupture and nodes to form (Keyser 2005).
Ornamentations:
The external surface of the valves may be
smooth or ornamented with pits,
reticulation,
spines, tubercles and nodes.

Although the pattern of ornament within a

species usually remains unchanged, the
degree of ornamentation may be related
to environmental parameters, including
salinity, nature of substrate and organic
carbon content of the sediments.

Further, sexual dimorphism causes

variation in shape, size and ornamentation
of carapaces.
The male carapaces may be larger or
smaller than those of their female
counterparts and the carapaces of females
of some species are bulged in the antero-
ventral part (due to an internal brood
pouch). Kesling ( 1951 ) has described the
terminology of carapaces and compared
the terms used by different workers.
A series of regularly spaced small
bumps along the edge of the valves are
typically called denticles or
crenulations.

The denticles can be seen with

transmitted light along the edge of
the valves. Usually, the denticles are
on the edge of the smaller of the
two valves.
The inner lamella consists of calcified
and un-calcified parts. The un-calcified
inner lamella is a membrane that joins
the edge of the calcified inner lamella
with the inner part of the body.

A selvage is a ridge on the inner lamella,

usually running close to the edge of the
valve margin.
In some groups the selvage has been
displaced internally to form a ridge
further away from the edge of the
valves.

The selvage helps to tightly seal the

carapace when closed.
Inner lists are also found on the calcified
inner lamella, but are less distinct than
a selvage, usually forming nothing more
than a slight ridge.

Lists can also be seen in

transmitted light.
Septa (singular = septum, Latin
meaning partition) are small
support structures found along
the margins of the carapace of
some genera. They consist of
small, wedge-shaped structures
connected to the outer lamella
and calcified inner lamella.
The structure of the hinge varies between groups. In some groups
it is simply a chitinous connection between the two valves, while
others it consists of teeth and corresponding sockets. There are
eight main types of hinge.

Adont - the most simple type, without teeth and

sockets.
Lophodont - with a pair of teeth and sockets at each end
of the hinge, and a groove and corresponding bar
between them. The teeth and sockets separate when
the carapace is open.
Merodont - similar to lophodont, but the teeth and
sockets are crenulated.
Entomodont - similar to merodont, but the groove and
bar are also partially crenulated.
Schizodont - similar to lophodont but each tooth and
corresponding socket are bifid (divided by a deep notch).
Ampidont - similar to schizodont, but the anterior tooth
and socket are not bifid, only the posterior one.
Gongylodont - has teeth on both valves, and
corresponding sockets on both valves.
Visordont - consists of two teeth at each end of the
hinge on the right valve, and two corresponding sockets
on the left valve. When the valve open, the teeth and
sockets act like pivot points, and the right valve
overrides the left along the dorsal margin, like a visor.
Only known in the Terrestricytheroidea.
Moulting
The ostracodes grow by moulting, and the younger carapaces (instars) are preserved in
the sediments associated with the adult and fully grown carapaces.

Ostracods like other Crustacea moult between growth stages (called an instar), this
process is known as ecdysis. There are usually nine instars between egg and adult. This
fact has extremely important implications for palaeontological studies. For example, if an
assemblage contains a mix of instars it is relatively safe to assume the material is in situ

One group of ostracodes (the podocopids) has nine instars, while the other
(myodocopids) consists of four to seven juvenile instars and an adult instar.

Reproduction:
Ostracods can reproduce sexually and asexually (parthenogenesis). Ostracods show
sexual dimorphism, that is males and females of the same species have carapaces of
differing size and shape.

Most marine ostracodes reproduce sexually, but non-marine ostracodes more commonly
reproduce asexually (parthenogenesis).
The Class Ostracoda is separated from other Crustacea by their
• bivalved, perforate carapace lacking growth lines
• laterally compressed body,
• undifferentiated head,
• seven or less thoracic limbs

The carapace is shed and regrown during each moult, and hence does not have growth
lines like the carapaces of some other crustacean groups, such as the Cyclestherida and
Spinicaudata.
Classification
The living ostracods are classified in many cases by variations in their
appendages and other soft parts. Although exceptionally well preserved fossil
ostracods with the soft parts intact have been found these are very rare and
therefore the morphological features of the carapace have become vital in fossil
ostracod classification.

The Ostracoda have been divided into five Orders:

the extant Podocopida and Myodocopida and

the extinct Phosphatocopida, Leperditicopida and Palaeocopida (however, the

latter groups may well not be ostracods in the strict biological sense).
Geological distribution
Ostracod-like organisms (bivalved arthropods) are recorded from the
Cambrian, but it is uncertain whether these can be classified as true
ostracods.
Myodocopid and podocopid forms are recorded from the
Ordovician. These are all early marine forms.

The first freshwater forms (Darwinulacea and Carbonita) occur in the

Carboniferous.
and by the Jurassic ostracods are common in freshwater
environments.
Paleoenvironmental Significance:

The usefulness of ostracods in biostratigraphy has declined over the last 20 years as
conodonts in the Palaeozoic and planktonic foraminifers and calcareous
nannoplankton in the Mesozoic to Recent have become more widely used.

In addition, a high degree of endemism, and the often benthic niche, has restricted the
use of ostracods in global correlation.

Salinity and temperature are principal environmental controls in the distribution of

ostracoda, and as a result, they are one of the most useful groups in
paleoenvironmental reconstruction.

The chemistry of the ostracoda carapace provides valuable information about

hydrology and precipitation, particularly of lake sediments that lack other calcareous
shells. It has a long geological history of more than 400 million years, since it
evolved in the Ordovician.

Psychrospheric assemblage of Ostracods existed in the Mediterrenian Sea until the

early Quaternary indicating deep water connection with the Atlantic Ocean. (Benson,
1972)
 Ostracods have their widest utility in paleoenvironmental analysis

Ostracod palaeoecology in the Late Eocene of the Hampshire basin, England. (a) The environments as reconstructed
from the ostracod fauna.

I, Shallow lake: 1, Candona daleyi;

II, Deep lake: 2, Cypridopsis bulbosa; 3, Moenocypris reidi;
III, Brackish 3–9‰: 4, Cytheromorpha bulla;
IV, Brackish 16.5–33‰: 5, Neocyprideis colwellensis; 6, Neocyprideis williamsoniana; 7, Cladarocythere hantonensis;
V, Brackish 16.5–33‰: 8, Bradleya forbesi; 9, Haplocytherida debilis; 10, Cyamocytheridea herbertiana;
VI, Shallow sea 35‰: 11, Cytherella cf C. compressa; 12, Idiocythere bartoniana; 13, Bairdia sp.
The palaeoclimate signal reflected in the long-term changes in ostracod assemblages may
also be in part due to continental movements from warm to cooler latitudes (e.g. the
northward migration of India through the Late Jurassic to Eocene), and there are a
number of studies in which ostracods have been used to determine the former position of
continents.

Example:
The Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous non-marine ostracod faunas of north-east Brazil
and West Africa are essentially the same, demonstrating these were juxtaposed if not
connected at this time.
Ostracod assemblages also change with sea level.
Quaternary sections in North America indicate interglacial highstands are characterized
by marine ostracod assemblages and low percentages of marginal marine species.
Gradually, marine taxa are replaced by increasing numbers of marginal marine taxa as
the glacial regression develops

The majority of Recent ostracod genera are found in Miocene rocks and many have
close relatives in Mesozoic assemblages – inference and uniformitarianism can
therefore be used in detailed palaeoecology.
A good relationship between tide levels and ostracode species is found in several
places that suggests potential use of ostracodes in reconstruction of former sea levels.
The main ostracode species associated with different tide levels are as follows
(Boomer 1998 ):

Highest astronomical tide: No ostracoda.

Mean high water: Loxoconcha elliptica , Leptocythere porcellanea , L. castanea .

Mean high water neaps: Leptocythere porcellanea , L. casertosa , L. baltica ,

Xestoleberis sp.

Mean sea level (down to mean low water neaps): Leptocythere pellucida , Loxoconcha
rhomboidea , Hemicythere villosa .
The ecology of ostracods is often reflected in the shape and structure of their
carapaces hence making them useful palaeoenvironmental indicators.

Freshwater ostracods in general tend to have smooth, thin, weakly calcified

simple bean-shaped carapaces. They feed on a wide range of food stuffs
including diatoms, bacteria and detritus.

Pelagic ostracods also tend to have thin, smooth shells and may have long
powerful swimming appendages or antennules which have led to the formation of
rostral incisures at the anterior of the carapace to allow freer movement of these
appendages.

Benthic ostracods are commonly detritivores or filter feeders, they either burrow
into the substrate, in which case their carapaces tend to be smooth, small, robust
and sometimes elongated.

Epifaunal types may have flattened ventral surfaces sometimes with projecting
alar wings, frills, keels or lateral spines.
Those found on coarser substrates in higher energy environments tend to have
more robust heavily ribbed or reticulated carapaces.