Animated diagrams are illustrated to show the complex microevolutionary trends and phylogeny of morphotypes in the Miocene to Recent coccolithophorid plexus of Calcidiscus leptoporus (calcareous nannoplankton). The present animations are supplementary information to an extended data set about the same nannoplankton group which recently appeared in a printed article (Knappertsbusch, 2000). The animations illustrate the complex microevolutionary behaviour through time of these algae in three dimensions, which was previously not possible. Watching with red-green glasses anaglyphs of the animations can be experienced in three dimensions, which makes the microevolutionary patterns even more accessible to a general audience. The aim of the present contribution is to document the methods to arrive at such graphical representations, which may be applied to future morphological and evolutionary studies with similar data sets. The microevolutionary patterns seen in these animations in 3D confirm the results seen in the previously published two-dimensional printed version. The article contains supplementary, hitherto unpublished data and software, that are useful for further analyses about the evolution of C. leptoporus.

Michael Knappertsbusch. Naturhistorisches Museum Basel, Augustinergasse 2, 4001-Basel, Switzerland.

Key words: Morphological evolution, Calcidiscus leptoporus, phylogeny, animations