FEEDING NICHE DIFFERENTIATION BETWEEN TWO SPECIES OF BLASTOID ECHINODERMS

Deltoblastus bather and Deltoblastus delta are common blastoid echinoderm species within the Permian deposits of Timor. Biological needs dictate that resource partitioning will naturally evolve out of intraspecific competition when there is significant overlap in use of a finite resource; however, this differentiation and resultant competitive exclusion is difficult to observe among fossil faunas. Pristine preservation of Deltoblastus species coupled with abundant specimens available allows for fine-detail landmark measurement, and this data is used to test whether significant differences exist between these closely related species. Thin plate spline analysis aids in visualizing the key differences between these latently dissimilar species.