Meeting Abstract

100.2  Sunday, Jan. 6  A neural-field model for the evolution of Conus shell patterns LEVY*, M/G; NIRODY*, J/A*; NEU, J/C; HENDRICKS, J/R; SLATKIN, M; OSTER, G/R; *=EQUAL CONTRIBUTION, ; Univ. of California, Berkeley; Univ. of California, Berkeley; Duke University; San Jose State Univeristy; Univ. of California, Berkeley; Univ. of California, Berkeley jnirody@berkeley.edu

Conus shell patterns are thought to be generated via a neurosecretory process. Gong et al. (2012) have shown that the parameters used to model this process can be used to infer phylogenetic histories. We construct a new formalism for this model and use it to examine intraspecific variation in Conus spurius, a species with a good 5 million year fossil record. We use UV imaging to reconstruct these fossil patterns and examine how morphospace may have changed over time. We propose that evolutionary trajectories within this parameter space correspond to an evolutionary history of the mantle neurosecretory network itself.