Patterns of evolutionary tempo and mode in the radiation of Melanopsis (Gastropoda; Melanopsidae)

The Paratethyan basins of eastern Europe and western Asia became isolated from marine influence in the Late Miocene, and were the sites of several remarkable endemic radiations of brackish and freshwater organisms. Here I describe the patterns of tempo and mode before and during the radiation of the gastropod Melanopsis in the Pannonian basin of eastern and central Europe, and I explore the underlying mechanisms of evolutionary change. The most ancient melanopsid species in this area, M. impressa, was present in freshwater areas marginal to the basin well before the radiation. Widely spaced samples of M. impressa indicate that this species underwent a period of stasis lasting at least 7 m.y. The end of stasis corresponded with the extinction of the last of the normal marine fauna in the basin, suggesting that the lack of other fauna and/or reduced salinity in the basin permitted expansion of the melanopsids from the basin margins into the basin proper. Stasis ended with the onset of changes in size, shouldering, and ontogeny, which led eventually to M. fossilis. Change occurred over a 2-m.y. interval; a series of intermediates is present for all three characters. Within-sample correlations provide no evidence that the three characters are constructionally linked; instead they appear to be changing independently. The mode of change in the M. impressa–M. fossilis lineage appears to have been anagenetic. Alterations in the rate and direction of selection (and/or genetic links between characters) are probably required to explain the overall slowness of the change. Most Pannonian basin melanopsid species arose by rapid cladogenesis in the Middle Pannonian Stage. Physical factors in the basin probably influenced the timing of this diversification; contrasting patterns of variation and diversity between two melanopsid clades suggest that intrinsic factors influenced the extent of diversification.