Abstract
Posilovic, H., & Bajraktarevic, Z. 2010: Functional morphological analysis of evolution of ribbing in pliocene viviparid shells from Croatia. Lethaia, 10.1111/j.1502-3931.2009.00209.x. This paper provides a functional analysis of Pliocene freshwater gastropods from the phylogenetic lineage of Viviparus neumayri to Viviparus ornatus. On this section of the phylogenetic line, it is possible to follow the continuous evolution of the shell ornamentation (shouldering and rib formation) from ancestral V. neumayri with smooth shell to V. ornatus with spiral ribs. The shell morphology and possible structural function of rib development is discussed from the analytical point of view, but also by Finite Element Modelling. Spiral rib development in the viviparids is not correlated with shell thickening, but rather with strengthening of the shell is achieved through development of spiral ribs, with direct biomechanical and evoloutionary significance. □Croatia, functional morphology, gastropod shell evolution, Pliocene, viviparid evolution.
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