Abstract
In 1990 Danielopol et al. described the ostracod genus Cytherissa as ‘the Drosophila of paleolimnology’ in the sense of a model organism for their purposes at that time. In the intervening years Drosophila is no longer seen by biologists as the perfect test model and, for example, the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans is now viewed as preferable because ‘the fly is much more complex than the worm and the anatomy of the nervous system has not reached the level of completeness achieved for the worm’ (Brenner 2003, p. 278). For some years attention has focused on Cyprideis torosa (Jones, 1850), especially since the pioneering work of Rosenfeld & Vesper (1977) on sieve-pore variability in this species in relation to salinity, because torosa is a particularly widely distributed euryhaline living and fossil ostracod species. Cyprideis torosa is not only biogeographically widespread but occurs in a salinity range from freshwater to hypersaline, tolerates a wide range of temperature, oxygen and substrate conditions, and also has a large, well-calcified and easily preserved carapace. The species first occurs in sedimentary formations of early Pleistocene age but may be older. Therefore, it has the potential to be an ostracod model organism. This set of thematic papers is designed to summarize our current knowledge of one of the most important living ostracod species, its distribution, ecology, morphological response to environmental pressures, and molecular characterization, together with our understanding of its origins and value for palaeoenvironmental interpretation. The ultimate aim is to define potentially rewarding research targets using C. torosa as a model organism. ARL acknowledges Patrick De Deckker for the initial inspiration for this thematic set of papers on Cyprideis torosa and for his long-term support. PDD and ARL both acknowledge Dan Danielopol (University of Graz) as an unfailing source of ideas and inspiration! We both thank our Contributing Authors, the Reviewers, and especially Sarah Gibbs our Senior Production Editor.
Highlights
In 1990 Danielopol et al described the ostracod genus Cytherissa as ‘the Drosophila of paleolimnology’ in the sense of a model organism for their purposes at that time
In the intervening years Drosophila is no longer seen by biologists as the perfect test model and, for example, the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans is viewed as preferable because ‘the fly is much more complex than the worm and the anatomy of the nervous system has not reached the level of completeness achieved for the worm’ (Brenner 2003, p. 278)
For some years attention has focused on Cyprideis torosa (Jones, 1850), especially since the pioneering work of Rosenfeld & Vesper (1977) on sieve-pore variability in this species in relation to salinity, because torosa is a widely distributed euryhaline living and fossil ostracod species
Summary
For obvious reasons, this set of papers is dedicated to our late colleague Amnon Rosenfeld (1944 – 2014); see Keyser & Honigstein (2016). Frenzel, Ewald & Pint (2016) describe experiments with cultured torosa material to broadly confirm the relationship between sieve-pore shape and salinity recognized by Rosenfeld & Vesper (1977) in the oligohaline to mesohaline range; the stability of the host water body seems to be a factor. Carapace characteristics of living and Recent torosa are analysed by Gliozzi, Rodriguez-Lazaro & Pipik (2016) in order to clearly define the species for comparison with fossil Cyprideis forms. Benardout & Whittaker (2016) examine the occurrence of torosa and associated ostracods from (marine isotope stage) MIS 9 and MIS 11 interglacial deposits of the early Thames–Medway river system by comparison with the study of ostracod biofacies in the modern Thames Estuary of Kilenyi (1969)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
