Author:
Saleh Farid,Vaucher Romain,Vidal Muriel,Hariri Khadija El,Laibl Lukáš,Daley Allison C.,Gutiérrez-Marco Juan Carlos,Candela Yves,Harper David A. T.,Ortega-Hernández Javier,Ma Xiaoya,Rida Ariba,Vizcaïno Daniel,Lefebvre Bertrand
Abstract
AbstractThe Fezouata Biota (Morocco) is a unique Early Ordovician fossil assemblage. The discovery of this biota revolutionized our understanding of Earth’s early animal diversifications—the Cambrian Explosion and the Ordovician Radiation—by suggesting an evolutionary continuum between both events. Herein, we describe Taichoute, a new fossil locality from the Fezouata Shale. This locality extends the temporal distribution of fossil preservation from this formation into the upper Floian, while also expanding the range of depositional environments to more distal parts of the shelf. In Taichoute, most animals were transported by density flows, unlike the in-situ preservation of animals recovered in previously investigated Fezouata sites. Taichoute is dominated by three-dimensionally preserved, and heavily sclerotized fragments of large euarthropods—possibly representing nektobenthic/nektic bivalved taxa and/or hurdiid radiodonts. Resolving whether this dominance reflects a legitimate aspect of the original ecosystem or a preservational bias requires an in-depth assessment of the environmental conditions at this site. Nevertheless, Taichoute provides novel preservational and palaeontological insights during a key evolutionary transition in the history of life on Earth.
Funder
Chinese Postdoctoral Science Foundation
Funding of the FGSE at Lausanne University
Czech Science Foundation
Institute of Geology of the Czech Academy of Sciences
Swiss National Science Foundation
Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
National Science Foundation
INSU, CNRS
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Cited by
14 articles.
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