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Ostracods are by far the most complex organisms studied within the field of micropalaeontology. They are Metazoa and belong to the Phylum Arthropoda (as trilobites), Class Crustacea (as lobsters and crabs). An important distinguishing feature Ostracods share with other arthropods is the bilateral symmetry of their body form. The paired body parts are enclosed in a dorsally hinged carapace composed of low magnesium calcite, which is what is commonly preserved in the fossil record. They are found today in almost all aquatic environments including hot springs, caves, within the water table, semiterrestrial environments, in both fresh and marine waters, within the water column as well as on (and in) the substrate. In fact almost anywhere that's wet, even if only for a brief period!
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The oldest generic names given to ostracods are Cypris and Cythere by Muller in the 1770's and 80's, these are now commonly used as suffixes and prefixes in ostracod nomenclature. In the 1860's Sars classified ostracods as an order divided into four suborders, Podocopa, Myodocopa, Cladocopa and Platycopa. In the early 20th Century workers in the Appalachians in the U.S.A classified Palaeozoic ostracods. In 1958 Pokorny combined these two classifications and in 1961 an Anglo American treatise modified Pokorny's work to give the foundation of today's classification system. It was not until Pokorny's work that the fossil and living classifications were linked.
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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. All these early forms are marine, the first freshwater forms (Darwinulacea and Carbonita) occur in the Carboniferous and by the Jurassic ostracods are common in freshwater environments. Between the Silurian/Devonian and the present there are big gaps in the fossil record of planktonic marine forms, which is thought to reflect weak calcification of the carapace.

MORPHOLOGY OF THE OSTRACOD CARAPACE 1. Composition of carapace: Chitinous (rarely fossilized) and calcareous (fossilized). 2. Size: range from 0.3-30 mm long (average size is typically about 1mm long). 3. Shape: ovate, kidney, or bean-shaped. 4. Carapace consists of two valves (right and left). These two valves are connected at the dorsum by a hinge and separate at the ventral. 5. Valves of a shell are not commonly the same size, so one overlaps the other.

6. TACTILE FEATURES (feeling by the surrounding environment): -- Setae (from pore canals and marginal pore canals) -- Eyes (near eye spot/eye tubercle, specially for shallow water forms,
deep water forms are blind).

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Ornamentation:
The outer surfaces of the ostracod valves can be smooth or ornamented with pits, striations, reticulations, spines, sulci, tubercles, wings-shaped (alae).

Common ornamentations in ostracods


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ORIENTATION OF THE SHELL

From side view:


-Rounded end (the highest) )is anterior and pointed end is posterior. -Dorsal outline is convex (often straight), while the ventral outline is straight, concave or sometimes with less convexity. - eye-spot (if present) occur in an anterodorsal position.

From dorsal/ventral view: - Broadest region occurs near the posterior From the interior: adductor muscle scars occur near the anterior end. Spines and alae (wings) are generally directed towards the posterior.

Ornamentation is heavier at the posterior than is at the anterior.


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ONTOGENY Ostracods grow by moulting. There are usually eight moults between the egg and the adult.

What is the dimorphism? Dimorphic two shells are typically similar in everything but not in size. Male-shell is generally longer than the female-shell.

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ARTICULATION
Can be done by the following: 1. Ligament (chitinous material, unfossilized) 2. Hinge (teeth, sockets, ridges and grooves) - Adont hinge - Merodont hinge - Entomodont hinge - Amphidont hinge 3. Ridges on the duplicature 4. Adductor muscles (leave muscle scars inside and a subcentral tubercle/sulcus outside).

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OSTRACODA
DISTRIBUTION AND ECOLOGY OF OSTRACODS
Ostracods are: 1- pelagic (planktonic) by using organic-walled shell (less Ca CO3) or by producing oil droplets. Pelagic ostracods are not preserved in the sediments.

2- benthic on/in the sea floor. They can burrow, swim


near the sea-bed or crawling on or through the sediment.

Benthic forms occur in all the aquatic environments from the

abyss to the shoreline. They also occur in estuaries, lagoons,


freshwater lakes, ponds and streams, salt lakes, hot springs, damp vegetation.

Benthic ostracods divided into two major groups:

Psychrospheric ostracods (bathyal and abyssal)

Thermospheric ostracods Thermospheric ostracods Shallow waters under less-dense, warm ( > 10 C) waters Small Eye present. More diverse than the psychospheric ostracods

cold, deep waters 500 m, temperature around 4 to 6 C.


Large > 1 mm in lengthAnimals is blind (eye tubercles are missing). Ornamentation is so dense.

Legitimocythere

Cyprideis torosa

Ostracods can be influenced ecologically by various factors such as:

1. Type of the substrate:

- Swimmers have smooth, thin, bean-shaped carapace.


- Fine-grained (mud) dwellers have flattened ventral, wing-shaped carapace. - Coarse-grained (sand) dwellers have thick carapace with coarse ornamentation. - Interstitial ostracods are small, long and robust.

2. Salinity
Ostracods carapace morphology tend to vary according to variation in salinity. They occur in fresh water (0.0-0.5) of rivers and estuaries, brackish water (0.5-30) of lagoons and marshes, normal sea water (35-45) and hypersaline water bodies (up to 57) of the closed seas, lakes, lagoons and marginal bays.

3. Depth:
Populations of living pelagic forms increase with increasing the water-depth, whereas benthic forms show highest diversity near shallow waters.

Psychospheric forms occur around 500 m depth.


Thermospheric forms is restricted to the photic zone (0.0150 m).

4. Temperature:
Latitudinal temperature controls the shallow water forms.

At tropical regions, faunas are more abundant and diverse


than at the higher latitudes.

Occur in the sedimentary column since the Early Ordovician, so they can be used as: 1- stratigraphic markers. 2- Paleo-salinity indicators 3- Paleo-depth indicators

Changes in the proportions of fresh- and brackish-water ostracoda with inferred salinity changes, from part of the Lower Headon Beds (Modified from Keen, 1977).

Based on: general shape, valves overlapping, presence of ornamentation, hige characteristics and male and female structures. Ostracoda divided generally into five main orders:

Order: Archaeocopida
Order: Leperditicopida Order: Podocopida Superfamily: Bairdiacea Superfamily: Cypridacea Superfamily: Cytheracea Superfamily: Darwinulacea Order: Myodocopida Order: Palaeocopida

Orders Archaeocopida and Leperditicopida: a) Bradorai, b) Indiana, c) structure features of leperditicopida and d) Leperditia. From Brasier, 1980.

Order Podocopida (superfamily Bairdiacea): a-c) Bairdia. From Brasier (1980).

Order Podocopida (superfamily Cypridacea): a) Cypris, b) details of Paracypris, c) Carbonita, d) Cypridea and Argilloecia. From Brasier (1980).

Order Podocopida (superfamily Cytheracea): a) Limnocythere, b) Cytheracean muscle scar, c) Cyprideis and d) Cytherura. From Brasier (1980).

Order Podocopida (superfamily Darwinulacea): a-c) Darwinula sp. From Brasier (1980).

Order Myodocopida: a) Richteria, b) Entomoconchus, c) Thaumatocypris and d) exterior LV of Jurassic species. From Brasier (1980).

Order Palaeocopida: a-b) Beyrichia, c) Hollinella, d) Aechmina and e) Oepikium. From Brasier (1980).

Since the fossil record of planktonic marine ostracods is so patchy, biostratigraphic uses of ostracods based on benthic forms are limited to specialised marine environments for example in the Jurassic of the North Sea.
In the marine environment benthic ostracods are utilised for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions.

Freshwater and brackish facies commonly contain abundant ostracods which are used for environmental studies and for biostratigraphic zonations, for instance in non-marine sediments from Mongolia and China.

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HISTORY OF OSTRACODA (Stratigraphic position)

Diversity of ostracod taxa through time. Width of bars corresponds to the number of genera, from Brazier (1980).

WARNING: Please remember all preparation techniques require the use of hazardous materials and equipment and should only be caried out in properly equiped laboratories, wearing the correct safety clothing and under the supervision of qualified staff.

Ostracod carapaces range in size from approximately 100 microns up to several millimetres, and they are commonly prepared in the same way as foraminifera with careful washing with hydrogen peroxide and/or washing soda and sieving using a standard 63 micron sieve.
Several washes may be required to break down well indurated material and care should be taken when washing through the sieve to prevent breakage of the specimens. The cleaned residue can then be dried, sieved into fractions (generally 63-125 microns, 125-250 microns, 250-500 microns and greater than 500 microns) and "picked".
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Care must be taken to clean all sieves and materials used between the preparation of each sample to prevent contamination.

Once fossil samples have been prepared ostracod carapaces can be picked from any remaining sediment using a fine brush and a reflected light, binocular microscope. The best method is to scatter a fine dusting of sieved sediment on to a black tray divided into squares, this can then be scanned under the microscope and any ostracods preserved in the sediment can be picked out with a fine brush (preferably a 000 sable paint brush). The picked specimens can then be mounted in card slides divided into numbered squares with sliding glass covers. Gum tragocanth was traditionally used to attach the specimens to the slides but modern office type water soluble paper adhesives are now used.
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Ostracods are large enough to be observed live in wet preps under microscopes and sometimes with the naked eye. Almost any relatively still water will contain ostracods and samples can be collected especially by scraping them from the surface of water plants or sediment.

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