Ammonite extinction and nautilid survival at the end of the Cretaceous
One of the puzzles about the end-Cretaceous extinctions is why some organisms disappeared and others survived. A notable example is the differential extinction of ammonites and survival of nautilids, the two groups of co-occurring, externally shelled cephalopods at the end of the Cretaceous. To investigate the role of geographic distribution in explaining this outcome, we compiled a database of all the occurrences of ammonites and the nautilid genus Eutrephoceras in the last 0.5 m.y. of the Maastrichtian. We also included recently published data on ammonite genera that appear to have briefly survived into the Paleocene. Using two metrics to evaluate the geographic range of each genus (first…
Ammonites on the Brink of Extinction: Diversity, Abundance, and Ecology of the Order Ammonoidea at the Cretaceous/Paleogene (K/Pg) Boundary
We examined the stratigraphic distribution of ammonites at a total of 29 sites around the world in the last 0.5 myr of the Maastrichtian. We demarcated this interval using biostratigraphy, magnetostratigraphy, cyclostratigraphy, and data on fossil occurrences in relation to the K/Pg boundary in sections without any facies change between the highest ammonites and the K/Pg boundary. The ammonites at this time represent all four Mesozoic suborders comprising six superfamilies, 31 (sub)genera, and 57 species. The distribution of ammonites is dependent on the environmental setting. Recent data suggest that ammonites persisted to the boundary and some species may have survived for several tens of…