Agulhas e pincéis: as relações entre a paleontologia e a neontologia no estudo dos ostracodes (Crustacea: Ostracoda)

Abstract

NEEDLES AND BRUSHES: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PALEONTOLOGY AND NEONTOLOGY FOR THE STUDY OF OSTRACODS (CRUSTACEA: OSTRACODA) The study of ostracodes has developed under different influences, being possible to identify along its history influences of sampling technologies, necessity of knowledge applied to the oil industry and improvements of both optic and electronic microscopy. The origin of ostracodology might be placed in the second half of XVIII century, when recent continental species began to be studied by European researchers. The paleontological research set out with the description of the first fossil species in the beginning of XIX century. The improvement of the paleontological knowledge disclosed the paleoenvironmental and bioestratigraphical potential of ostracodology, which made it an important area of micropaleontological research. At that point the study of these crustaceans was widespread and steadily increasing in many institutions around the world both in the academy and oil companies. Nowadays, there is a tendency of the rebirth of the research on recent ostracodes under many approaches. The new knowledge resulting from paleontologic and neontologic studies will contribute to the improvement of the knowledge on the evolution of ostracodes and other crustaceans as well.