Putative Late Ordovician land Plants Salamon, Mariusz A.; Gerrienne, Philippe; Steemans, Philippe ...
The New phytologist,
June 2018, Letnik:
218, Številka:
4
Journal Article, Web Resource
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The colonization of early terrestrial ecosystems by embryophytes (i.e. land plants) irreversibly changed global biogeochemical cycles (Berner & Kothavala, 2001; Berner et al., 2007; Song et al., ...2012). However, when and how the process of plant terrestrialization took place is still intensely debated (Kenrick & Crane, 1997; Kenrick et al., 2012; Edwards et al., 2014; Edwards & Kenrick, 2015). Current knowledge suggests that the earliest land plants evolved from charophycean green algae (Karol et al., 2001) most probably during Early-Middle Ordovician times (Rubinstein et al., 2010; and references cited therein). They were represented by small nonvascular bryophyte-like organisms (Edwards & Wellman, 2001; Wellman et al., 2003; Kenrick et al., 2012). The oldest fossil evidence from dispersed spores of presumable bryophytic nature is known from a Middle Ordovician locality (c. 470 million years ago (Ma), Rubinstein et al., 2010; Fig. 1) from Argentina (Gondwana palaeocontinent). The dispersed spore fossil record also suggests that the first radiation of vascular plants probably occurred during Late Ordovician times (c. 450 Ma, Steemans et al., 2009). However, unequivocal macrofossils of vascular plants appear much later, during mid-Silurian (c. 430 Ma, Edwards et al., 1992). This macrofossil evidence comes from the fossil-genus Cooksonia, an early polysporangiophyte (i.e. a plant with bifurcating axes and more than one sporangium), which is considered the earliest vascular land plant (Edwards et al., 1992; Fig. 1). Further advances in knowledge about the origin and early dispersion of polysporangiophytes are needed for a better understanding of the initial plant diversification. Unfortunately, unravelling the initial steps of polysporangiophyte evolution is hindered by gaps in the fossil record of the earliest plants as well as by limitations of inference based on molecular clocks (Kenrick et al., 2012; Edwards & Kenrick, 2015).
The genus Erymnocerites Jeannet is recorded for the first time from Poland. A single specimen, assigned to Erymnocerites argoviensis Jeannet is recorded from the Callovian Lamberti Zone from the ...Ogrodzieniec quarry (southern Poland). It is associated with upper Callovian forms of Peltoceras schroederi, Kosmoceras duncani and Quenstedtoceras lamberti. However, this condensed bed also yielded lowermost Oxfordian species of Peltoceratoides (Peltoceratoides) williamsoni, Peltoceratoides (Parawedekindia) arduennensis, Euaspidoceras subbabeanum, E. babeanum, Bukowskites minax, Cardioceras spp. and Hecticoceras (Putealiceras) punctatum, suggesting a condensation spanning the uppermost Callovian to lowermost Oxfordian for the lower beds at the Ogrodzieniec quarry. The recorded specimen differs from the middle Callovian Coronatum Zone E. argoviensis, which is a much larger (still septate at 188 mm), more depressed, less evolute, and has a rounded whorl section. However, based on the similarities in septal suture line and ribbing pattern, and considering the morphological variations in pachyceratids, the Polish specimen is referred to E. argoviensis. Based on the size difference between the Herznach (Switzerland) holotype of E. argoviensis (phragmocone~188 mm; maximum shell diameter~320 mm) and the Polish specimen (phragmocone 76 mm; maximum shell diameter 133 mm), it is speculated and the latter be the corresponding microconch.
Despite a wide array of published actualistic studies on echinoderm taphonomy the detailed pattern of decay and disarticulation of their skeletons is still not well understood. Here we provide ...results of tumbling experiments using a rotating barrel filled with artificial seawater and medium-sized quartz sand to mimic physical forces experienced by echinoderms during transportation in high-energy conditions. In particular, we determined semi-quantitatively transportation-induced rates and patterns of damage and disintegration of freshly killed ophiuroid, asteroid and crinoid skeletons that were not allowed to decay initially. Our experiments showed that echinoderm specimens disintegrated in a characteristic sequence toward an increase of the degree of disarticulation, abrasion and roundness or thinness of echinoderm ossicles. The sequence of disintegration in crinoids began with the partial disintegration of distal arms after 2h (a time equivalent to ~1km of transport). The initial split of ophiuroid and asteroid arms and crinoid cirri occurred after 24h (~12km) and complete destruction of the asteroid mouth and ophiuroid disk area occurred after 72h (~36km). The duration of transport necessary to promote initial fragmentation in asteroid and ophiuroid arms and crinoid cirri into isolated ossicles was 120h (~60km). The complete disarticulation of crinoid, ophiuroid and asteroid arms and crinoid cirri occurred after 312h (~156km) and 408h (~204km), respectively. Although it has been argued that the quality of preservation can be a poor index of post-mortem transport, echinoderms allowed limited initial decay in the presence of rapid and relatively constant physical disturbance, an approximation of the distance of transport can be made.
Our data demonstrate that articulated ossicles can remain for several days, sufficient time for long (even a few hundredkm) transportation. This finding illustrates that articulated echinoderm remains do not necessarily imply low energy and highlights the importance of a reliable discrimination of autochthonous and allochthonous components of fossil echinoderm assemblages. Application of, in particular, isolated fossil echinoderm ossicles in e.g. paleoenvironmental and paleoecological reconstructions may lead to serious misinterpretations and should be supplemented by observations of abrasion traces.
•Patterns of damage and disintegration of echinoderm skeleton were determined.•Echinoderm skeletons can withstand considerable physical disturbance and transport.•Care has to be taken when using articulated ossicles in paleoenvironmental studies.
Crinoids were among the most abundant marine benthic animals throughout the Palaeozoic, but their body size evolution has received little attention. Here, we compiled a comprehensive database on ...crinoid calyx biovolumes throughout the Palaeozoic. A model comparison approach revealed contrasting and complex patterns in body size dynamics between the two major crinoid clades (Camerata and Pentacrinoidea). Interestingly, two major drops in mean body size at around two mass extinction events (during the late Ordovician and the late Devonian respectively) are observed, which is reminiscent of current patterns of shrinking body size of a wide range of organisms as a result of climate change. The context of some trends (marked declines during extinctions) suggests the cardinal role of abiotic factors (dramatic climate change associated with extinctions) on crinoid body size evolution; however, other patterns (two intervals with either relative stability or steady size increase in periods between mass extinctions) are more consistent with biotic drivers.
A rich assemblage of various types of bromalites from the lower Carnian "Konservat-Lagerstätte" from the Reingraben Shales in Polzberg (Northern Calcareous Alps, Lower Austria) is described for the ...first time in detail. They comprise large regurgitalites consisting of numerous entire shells of ammonoid Austrotrachyceras or their fragments and rare teuthid arm hooks, and buccal cartilage of Phragmoteuthis. Small coprolites composed mainly of fish remains were also found. The size, shape and co-occurrence with vertebrate skeletal remains imply that regurgitalites were likely produced by large durophagous fish (most likely by cartilaginous fish Acrodus). Coprolites, in turn, were likely produced by medium-sized piscivorous actinopterygians. Our findings are consistent with other lines of evidence suggesting that durophagous predation has been intense during the Triassic and that the so-called Mesozoic marine revolution has already started in the early Mesozoic.
The rare Middle Jurassic ammonite Oecoptychius refractus is revisited based on material collected in southern Poland (Ogrodzieniec quarry) and France (St.-Laon near Loudun, western France). Based on ...available data and an evaluation of the literature, O. refractus ranges from the middle Callovian Kosmoceras jason Zone to the upper Callovian Quenstedtoceras lamberti Zone. Additionally, two specimens from Kachchh (western India) were re-evaluated and are now assigned to the lower part of the upper Callovian Peltoceras athleta Zone, similar to specimens from southern Germany. In the present study, O. refractus displays large morphological variation in the shape of the body-chamber, with a gradation from V- to U-shape. Additionally, the smaller upper Callovian specimens from Poland are morphologically closer to the lectotype (more evolute and compressed) and form a separate grouping as compared to the much larger middle Callovian specimens from France. Based on available data, the authors tentatively propose Phlycticeras polygonium var. waageni M as the dimorphic partner of O. refractus m; both dimorphs have similar morphology (ribbing pattern and striations), suture line and co-occur from middle to upper Callovian. Oecoptychius refractus maintains its morphological variability throughout the middle and upper Callovian, before its final dissapearance in the Q. lamberti Zone. Oecoptychius refractus is better documented from western Tethyan localities (Poland, Germany and France) as compared to those from the eastern Tethys (Madagascar and India). Recurrent sea level rises in the Middle Jurassic might be one of the plausible factors for its extensive palaeobiogeographic range. Key words: Ammonoidea, Oecoptychius, morphological variation, Callovian, Jurassic, Tethys, Poland.
Sea urchins are a major component of recent marine communities where they exert a key role as grazers and benthic predators. However, their impact on past marine organisms, such as crinoids, is hard ...to infer in the fossil record. Analysis of bite mark frequencies on crinoid columnals and comprehensive genus-level diversity data provide unique insights into the importance of sea urchin predation through geologic time. These data show that over the Mesozoic, predation intensity on crinoids, as measured by bite mark frequencies on columnals, changed in step with diversity of sea urchins. Moreover, Mesozoic diversity changes in the predatory sea urchins show a positive correlation with diversity of motile crinoids and a negative correlation with diversity of sessile crinoids, consistent with a crinoid motility representing an effective escape strategy. We contend that the Mesozoic diversity history of crinoids likely represents a macroevolutionary response to changes in sea urchin predation pressure and that it may have set the stage for the recent pattern of crinoid diversity in which motile forms greatly predominate and sessile forms are restricted to deep-water refugia.
The contribution records and illustrates one new and nine other nautiloid species from six sections of southern Poland (Wysoka, Zalas, Ogrodzieniec, Przybynów, Rzędkowice and Żarki) spanning in age ...from the early Callovian to the late Oxfordian (Middle to Late Jurassic). This contribution also provides the first precise age-constrained record of nautiloid occurrences based on co-occurring ammonites, and refines the biostratigraphy of the six studied sections from southern Poland. Based on the ammonite data, the study sections are assigned to the lower Callovian Koenigi Zone (Zalas and Wysoka), lower Oxfordian Cordatum Subzone, Cordatum Zone (Ogrodzieniec and Przybynów) and upper Oxfordian Stenocycloides Subzone, Bifurcatus Zone (Rzędkowice and Żarki). A new species, Cenoceras
polonicum sp. nov. (Wysoka) is reported from Poland, along with the first records of Eutrephoceras rotundum (Crick) (Zalas), Paracymatoceras cf. mondegoense Tintant (Wysoka), Pseudaganides helveticus Loesch (Ogrodzieniec) and with better stratigraphy of Xenocheilus krenkeli (Loesch) (Ogrodzieniec and Żarki), Pseudaganides aganiticus (Schlotheim) (Ogrodzieniec), P. aff. aganiticus (Schlotheim) (Przybynów and Rzędkowice), Pseudaganides sp. (Żarki), 'Paracenoceras' calloviense (Oppel) and Paracenoceras blakei Jeannet (Zalas). New middle Bathonian occurrence of 'P'. calloviense (Oppel) associated with Micromphalites (Clydomphalites) clydocromphalus Arkell is also reported from Kachchh (western India).
A Devonian crinoid with a diamond microlattice Gorzelak, Przemysław; Kołbuk, Dorota; Stolarski, Jarosław ...
Proceedings of the Royal Society. B, Biological sciences,
03/2023, Letnik:
290, Številka:
1995
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Owing to their remarkable physical properties, cellular structures, such as triply periodic minimal surfaces (TPMS), have multidisciplinary and multifunctional applications. Although these structures ...are observed in nature, examples of TPMS with large length scales in living organisms are exceedingly rare. Recently, microstructure reminiscent of the diamond-type TPMS was documented in the skeleton of the modern knobby starfish
. Here we report a similar microlattice in a 385 Myr old crinoid
, which pushes back the origins of this highly ordered microstructure in echinoderms into the Devonian. Despite the low Mg
/Ca
ratio of the 'calcite' Devonian sea, the skeleton of these crinoids has high-Mg content, which indicates strong biological control over biomineralogy. We suggest that such an optimization of trabecular arrangement additionally enriched in magnesium, which enhances the mechanical properties, might have evolved in these crinoids in response to increased predation pressure during the Middle Palaeozoic Marine Revolution. This discovery illustrates the remarkable ability of echinoderms, through the process of evolutionary optimization, to form a lightweight, stiff and damage-tolerant skeleton, which serves as an inspiration for biomimetic materials.
It has been argued that increases in predation over geological time should result in increases in defensive adaptations in prey taxa. Recent in situ and laboratory observations indicate that cidaroid ...sea urchins feed on live stalked crinoids, leaving distinct bite marks on their skeletal elements. Similar bite marks on fossil crinoids from Poland strongly suggest that these animals have been subject to echinoid predation since the Triassic. Following their near-demise during the end-Permian extinction, crinoids underwent a major evolutionary radiation during the Middle-Late Triassic that produced distinct morphological and behavioral novelties, particularly motile taxa that contrasted strongly with the predominantly sessile Paleozoic crinoid faunas. We suggest that the appearance and subsequent evolutionary success of motile crinoids were related to benthic predation by post-Paleozoic echinoids with their stronger and more active feeding apparatus and that, in the case of crinoids, the predation-driven Mesozoic marine revolution started earlier than in other groups, perhaps soon after the end-Permian extinction.
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