Early ontogeny ofEutrephocerascompared to RecentNautilusand Mesozoic ammonites: evidence from shell morphology and light stable isotopes

Abstract

Observations on the morphology of the early whorls ofEutrephoceras dekayi(Morton), a widespread Cretaceous nautilid, are supplemented with oxygen and carbon isotopic analyses (δ18O and δ13C) of the early septa of five well-preserved specimens to help identify the point of hatching on the shell. Septa 4 and 5 are more closely spaced than preceding septa and probably correspond in time of formation with a constriction or first broken aperture on the outer shell one-third whorl forward of the fourth septum. In modernNautilus, morphologic, isotopic, and observational data suggest that similar features mark hatching. Between the fourth and fifth septa inE. dekayi, δ18O values show a shift of variable magnitude from heavy to lighter values followed by a return to heavier values over the next one to three septa. This isotopic shift is compatible with a hatching interpretation and may be explained as the result of kinetic and equilibrium effects on emergence from an egg capsule.Eutrephoceras dekayihatched at about 9 mm in diameter, one-third the hatching size of modernNautilus.LikeNautilus, E. dekayiprobably produced few young, all of which were active swimmers at hatching. In contrast, Mesozoic ammonoids produced numerous offspring ranging from 0.5 to 1.5 mm in diameter which may have spent some time in the plankton. These differences in life history may correlate with differences in ecologic specialization, environmental tolerance, and habitat between ammonoids and nautilids and may have contributed to their disparate rates of evolution during the Mesozoic.