Les mollusques de Bourgogne-Franche-Comté : vers un nouvel inventaire.

8 pages; National audience

Middle Jurassic tracks of sauropod dinosaurs in a deep karst cave in France.

14 pages; International audience; Although the deep galleries of natural underground cavities are difficult to access and are sometimes dangerous, they have the potential to preserve trace fossils. Here, we report on the first occurrence of sauropod dinosaur tracks inside a karstic cave. Three trackways are preserved on the roof of the Castelbouc cave 500 m under the surface of the Causse Méjean plateau, southern France. The tracks are Bathonian in age (ca. 168–166 Ma), a crucial but still poorly known time interval in sauropod evolution. The three trackways yield sauropod tracks that are up to 1.25 m long and are therefore amongst the largest known dinosaur footprints worldwide. The trackm…

Étude des traces de pas de vertébrés du Permien et du Trias d'Ardèche. Enjeux et perspectives.

Le département de l'Ardèche estremarquable car il offre un accès privilégié auxroches sédimentaires permiennes et triasiques danslesquelles abondent les traces de vertébrés fossiles.Une vingtaine de localités et plus de 1500empreintes de pas ont déjà été recensées le longd'une succession sédimentaire affleurant entrePrivas et Les Vans. Ce patrimoine ichnologique,reconnu internationalement, documente le passagede grands groupes de reptiles en terres ardéchoises,incluant essentiellement des représentants basauxde la lignée des crocodiles (pseudosuchiens) et de lalignée des oiseaux (dinosauriformes et dinosaures),ainsi que quelques membres de la lignée des lézards/serpents (lépidosauromorphes)…

A diagenetic control on the Early Triassic Smithian-Spathian carbon isotopic excursions recorded in the marine settings of the Thaynes Group (Utah, USA)

17 pages; International audience; n the aftermath of the end-Permian mass extinction, Early Triassic sediments record some of the largest Phanerozoic carbon isotopic excursions. Among them, a global Smithian-negative carbonate carbon isotope excursion has been identified, followed by an abrupt increase across the Smithian–Spathian boundary (SSB; ~250.8 Myr ago). This chemostratigraphic evolution is associated with palaeontological evidence that indicate a major collapse of terrestrial and marine ecosystems during the Late Smithian. It is commonly assumed that Smithian and Spathian isotopic variations are intimately linked to major perturbations in the exogenic carbon reservoir. We present p…

Effect of simulated faunal impoverishment and mixture on the ecological structure of modern mammal faunas: Implications for the reconstruction of Mio-Pliocene African palaeoenvironments

15 pages; International audience; The strong link between environment and the ecological diversity of communities is often used for drawing palaeoenvironmental inferences from fossil assemblages. Here we focus on the reliability of fossil samples in comparison to original communities when inferring palaeoenvironments from the ecological diversity of fossil mammal faunas. Taphonomic processes and sampling techniques generally introduce two kinds of biases in fossil samples: 1) the directional impoverishment of communities, i.e. the absence of some specific categories of bones, individuals or species; and 2) the mixture of several communities, temporally (timeaveraging) and/or spatially (spac…

Smithian shoreline migrations and depositional settings in Timpoweap Canyon (Early Triassic, Utah, USA).

AbstractIn Timpoweap Canyon near Hurricane (Utah, USA), spectacular outcrop conditions of Early Triassic rocks document the geometric relationships between a massive Smithian fenestral-microbial unit and underlying, lateral and overlying sedimentary units. This allows us to reconstruct the evolution of depositional environments and high-frequency relative sea-level fluctuations in the studied area. Depositional environments evolved from a coastal plain with continental deposits to peritidal settings with fenestral-microbial limestones, which are overlain by intertidal to shallow subtidal marine bioclastic limestones. This transgressive trend of a large-scale depositional sequence marks a lo…

Anza palaeoichnological site, Late Cretaceous, Morocco. Part III: Comparison between traditional and photogrammetric records

11 pages; International audience; The present study evaluates a methodological workflow that could identify dinosaur tracks and trackways more comprehensively at outcrop scale. The approach described here is based both on 3D modelling by photogrammetry at different resolutions, and on suitably processed digital elevation models (DEMs). The ichnosite of Anza, Morocco, was chosen to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed pipeline, because 323 dinosaur and pterosaur tracks discovered there have already been published. One subsector containing 89 tracks, identified in the two companion works that followed a traditional approach, was selected and divided into four subzones. By combining diff…

High-resolution dynamics of Early Jurassic marine extinctions: the case of Pliensbachian–Toarcian ammonites (Cephalopoda).

Abstract: The Pliensbachian–Toarcian interval was marked by major environmental disturbances and by a second-order mass extinction. Here, we reappraise the taxonomic, spatiotemporal and selective dynamics of extinctions over the whole interval, by analysing a high-resolution dataset of 772 ammonite species from NW Tethyan and Arctic domains. On average, 40–65% of ammonite species disappeared during each subchronozone, but higher extinction pulses (reaching 70–90%) prevailed from the Margaritatus to the Dispansum Chronozone. The main extinctions, corresponding to the Gibbosus, Pliensbachian–Toarcian boundary, Semicelatum, Bifrons–Variabilis, and Dispansum events, differed in their dynamics, …

Les vertébrés

Microbial deposits in the aftermath of the end-Permian mass extinction: A diverging case from the Mineral Mountains (Utah, USA)

40 pages; International audience; The Lower Triassic Mineral Mountains area (Utah, USA) preserves diversified Smithian and Spathian reefs and bioaccumulations that contain fenestral-microbialites and various benthic and pelagic organisms. Ecological and environmental changes during the Early Triassic are commonly assumed to be associated with numerous perturbations (productivity changes, acidifica-tion, redox changes, hypercapnia, eustatism and temperature changes) post-dating the Permian–Triassic mass extinction. New data acquired in the Mineral Mountains sediments provide evidence to decipher the relationships between depositional environments and the growth and distribution of microbial …

Deep-Time Phylogenetic Clustering of Extinctions in an Evolutionarily Dynamic Clade (Early Jurassic Ammonites)

7 pages; International audience; Conservation biologists and palaeontologists are increasingly investigating the phylogenetic distribution of extinctions and its evolutionary consequences. However, the dearth of palaeontological studies on that subject and the lack of methodological consensus hamper our understanding of that major evolutionary phenomenon. Here we address this issue by (i) reviewing the approaches used to quantify the phylogenetic selectivity of extinctions and extinction risks; (ii) investigating with a high-resolution dataset whether extinctions and survivals were phylogenetically clustered among early Pliensbachian (Early Jurassic) ammonites; (iii) exploring the phylogene…

Anthropoid versus strepsirhine status of the African Eocene primates Algeripithecus and Azibius: craniodental evidence.

Recent fossil discoveries have demonstrated that Africa and Asia were epicentres for the origin and/or early diversification of the major living primate lineages, including both anthropoids (monkeys, apes and humans) and crown strepsirhine primates (lemurs, lorises and galagos). Competing hypotheses favouring either an African or Asian origin for anthropoids rank among the most hotly contested issues in paleoprimatology. The Afrocentric model for anthropoid origins rests heavily on the >45 Myr old fossil Algeripithecus minutus from Algeria, which is widely acknowledged to be one of the oldest known anthropoids. However, the phylogenetic position of Algeripithecus with respect to other p…

Traces de pas de dinosaures du Jurassique moyen : bilan sur deux décennies de découvertes en Lozère.

8 pages; National audience; Depuis 1999, des découvertes fortuites ainsi que des campagnes de prospections menées en Lozère ont livré plusieurs sites à empreintes de pas de dinosaures d’âge jurassique moyen. Le nombre, la diversité et la remarquable préservation de ces traces constituent un patrimoine paléontologique exceptionnel. Les sites principaux sont localisés dans les Gorges du Tarn et de la Jonte. Leur récente étude a révélé (1) que ces empreintes ont été laissées par des dinosaures théropodes et sauropodes (2) que les écosystèmes parcourus par ces dinosaures correspondaient à des milieux tropicaux et littoraux tels que des marais côtiers, de vastes lagunes ou des baies bordées par …

Stratigrafía e diversidade dos vertebrados da Formação Santana.

Biodiversity is not (and never has been) a bed of roses!

9 pages; International audience; Over the last decades, the critical study of fossil diversity has led to significant advances in the knowledge of global macroevolutionary patterns of biodiversity. The deep-time history of life on Earth results from background originations and extinctions defining a steady-state, nonstationary equilibrium occasionally perturbed by biotic crises and "explosive" diversifications. More recently, a macroecological approach to the large-scale distribution of extant biodiversity offered new, stimulating perspectives on old theoretical questions and current practical problems in conservation biology. However, time and space are practically distinct, but functional…

Ammonite diversity and its palaeobiogeographical structure during the early Pliensbachian (Jurassic) in the western Tethys and adjacent areas.

14 pages; International audience; The early Pliensbachian (Early Jurassic) is known as a time of marked provincialism in the marine realm, notably between the Mediterranean Tethys and North–West Europe. In order to test this observation quantitatively, we compiled 104 locality-level species lists from those areas based on a comprehensive revision of early Pliensbachian ammonites. With this dataset, we also explore the relationship between ammonite richness and biogeography at the scale of the sub-chronozone during the early Pliensbachian. Using various multivariate statistics and rarefaction techniques, we show that: (i) there is a sharp contrast between the NW European (NWE) and the Medite…

Concreções calcárias da formação Santana, bacia do Araripe: uma proposta de classificação.

18 pages; The calcareous concretions of the Santana Formation have been known since 1800 thanks to the work of João da Silva Feijó (1800). Their study was promoted internationally by the report of von Spix and von Martius (1823-1831), and their richness in fossil fishes led Silva Santos to name them “ichthyoliths” in 1950. Here we propose a classification for the various types of calcareous concretions that occurred in the Santana Formation (Late Cretaceous, Araripe Basin). We consider their geographic distribution and we propose a terminological uniformization for the descriptions of that material. This will serve future statistical, geographical, geochemical and taphonomical studies that,…

Chordata (Vertebrata)

1 page; National audience

Trackways of Arthropleura from the Late Pennsylvanian of Graissessac (Hérault, southern France)

International audience; The Late Pennsylvanian deposits of the Graissessac Basin (southern France) are well known for their abundant and diversified plant remains. Here we report on seven trackways of giant millipede-like arthropods recently discovered from two surfaces. These traces are ascribed to Diplichnites cuithensis. The trackways are up to 200 cm long, up to 36 cm wide, straight to curved and consist of two parallel rows of numerous and elongated appendage imprints that are oriented perpendicular to the midline. Although body fossils of giant millipede-like arthropods remain unknown in sediments from this basin, the morphology and size of the trace fossils indicate that the trails w…

New Hettangian tracks from the Causses Basin (Lozère, southern France) complement the poor fossil record of earliest Jurassic crocodylomorphs in Europe

International audience; A new vertebrate ichnological assemblage is described from the Hettangian Dolomitic Formation of the Causses Basin, at Le Serre (Lozère, southern France). We report tracks that complement the poor fossil record of lowermost Jurassic crocodylomorphs in Europe. Tetradactyl pes and pentadactyl manus imprints form a unique trackway. Traces are ascribed to Batrachopus isp. and they represent the third occurrence of this ichnogenus in European Hettangian geological formations. This is the first report of Batrachopus in Hettangian deposits of the Causses Basin. The tracks share some similarities with Batrachopus deweyi previously described from the Sinemurian of the Causses…

Ammonoid recovery after the Permian-Triassic mass extinction: a re-exploration of morphological and phylogenetic diversity patterns.

The explosive ammonoid rediversification after the Permian–Triassic mass extinction is now well understood in terms of taxonomic richness and biogeography. Using an updated dataset of Early Triassic ammonoids, we compare morphological disparity and taxonomic richness patterns at the regional and global scales. Disparity evolved similarly at both scales, suggesting a global influence of abiotic factors. Morphological diversification occurred early in the Smithian and a marked contraction of the morphospace took place during the end-Smithian extinction. We confirm that trends in disparity and richness were decoupled during the Griesbachian and Dienerian. Three macroevolutionary processes may …

Les pistes d’archosauriens : Kayentapus ubacensis nov. isp. (théropodes) et crocodylomorphes du Bathonien des Grands-Causses (France). Conséquences paléo-biologiques, environnementales et géographiques

Resume Deux sites a traces de pas tridactyles II–IV de theropodes et de « probables » sauropodes des Grands Causses, sommairement decrits en 2006, sont ici reetudies. Il s’agit des sites du Capelan (commune de Meyrueis, Lozere) et de la Garene (commune de La Roque-Sainte-Marguerite, Aveyron), tous deux d’âge Bathonien. En 2012, l’un d’entre eux (Le Capelan) a fait l’objet d’une fouille et d’un agrandissement, permettant la decouverte de nombreuses traces. Dans le site du Capelan, 102 epireliefs concaves, compris entre 11 et 36 cm de longueur, appartiennent a, au moins, 21 pistes; la plus longue etant visible sur 37 metres. Dans l’ensemble, ces empreintes sont presque aussi longues que large…

A paleontological viewpoint on the "6th mass exinction".

Lithospheric strenght control over depositional environments and foreland accommodation in the Western USA Basin during the Early Triassic

International audience

Biometric and morphometric approaches on Lower Hettangian dinosaur footprints from the Rodez Strait (Aveyron, France).

9 pages; International audience; Along the southern crystalline border of the Rouergue, the detrital Sandstones-variegated Mudstones Formation and the Dolomitic Formation yields numerous dinosaur footprints from the Earliest Hettangian. Among the 25 sites distributed along the 40 km-long transect between Marcillac-Vallon and Saint-Geniez-d'Olt, two of them, Puech de Castres and Le Bouyssou, have yielded abundant ichnites in various well-defined stratigraphic units. The combined analysis of these footprints with biometric and morphometric methods (Fourier analysis) warrants their identification to Grallator, Eubrontes and Dilophosauripus. The dual methodological approach also reveals two new…

Presence of the genus Bythinella Moquin-Tandon, 1856 (Gastropoda, Bythinellidae) and other hydrobioids in Saône-et-Loire (Burgundy, France): taxonomic considerations and conservation issues.

While listing spring-dwelling snails in the regionBourgogne Franche-Comté (eastern France), we found threelocalities with living representatives of the genus BythinellaMoquin-Tandon, 1856 in the department of Saône-et-Loire. Toour knowledge, they represent the only Bythinella -bearinglocalities currently known in this department. The sampledindividuals share several shell features with B. carinulata(Drouët, 1867), B. viridis (Poiret, 1801) and B. lanceleveiLocard, 1884. Pending a complementary genetic analysis, weidentify these specimens as Bythinella sp. Two of the threelocalities also yielded empty shells of Islamia andBythiospeum . They represent the westernmost occurrence ofthese stygob…

Toros-Menalla (Chad, 7 Ma), the earliest hominin-bearing area: how many mammal paleocommunities?

12 pages; International audience; The fossiliferous area of Toros-Menalla (TM) (Djurab Desert, northern Chad) has yielded one of the richest African mammal faunas of the late Miocene. It is also the place where the earliest known hominin, Sahelanthropus tchadensis, was found. Although more than 300 localities are recorded in that area, previous paleoecological studies focused only on the largest and richest one. The integration of the material from other TM localities, and thus of a significant number of mammal taxa, is crucial to improve the corresponding paleoenvironmental reconstructions. Before such inferences can be drawn, it is necessary to test for the ecological integrity of these m…

Gladius-bearing coleoids from the Upper Cretaceous Lebanese Lagerstätten: diversity, morphology, and phylogenetic implications.

AbstractGladius-bearing coleoids are rare in the fossil record. For the Cretaceous period, these cephalopods are mainly recorded in a few Lagerstätten in Lebanon (Haqel, Hajoula, En Nammoura, and Sahel Aalma). Here, we study 16 specimens of gladius-bearing coleoids from these Upper Cretaceous Lebanese Lagerstätten to investigate their taxonomic diversity. Besides two species that were already reported (Dorateuthis syriacaandGlyphiteuthis libanotica), one new species is identified in the Cenomanian site of Hajoula:Rachiteuthis acutalin. sp., as well as another form ofGlyphiteuthisfrom En Nammoura. Several studied specimens exhibit well-preserved soft-part characters. Among them, we document …

TRACKING DINOSAURS IN COARSE-GRAINED SEDIMENTS FROM THE UPPER TRIASSIC OF ARDÈCHE (SOUTHEASTERN FRANCE)

ABSTRACT Coarse-grained sediments deposited in high-energy environments are usually considered unfavorable to the preservation of fossil tracks. Here we report dinosaur footprints showing good physical preservation, despite being found in coarse-grained sandstones of alluvial origin from the Upper Triassic of Ardèche, southeastern France. The ichnoassemblage, dominated by Grallator isp., raises questions about the processes leading to the formation and preservation of tracks in coarse-grained sediments. The track-bearing surface is a medium- to coarse-grained quartz arenite that is microconglomeratic locally. The tracking surface grain size ranges from 0.2 to 2 mm and numerous pebbles are p…

Gauging scale effects and biogeographical signals in similarity distance decay analyses: an Early Jurassic ammonite case study.

17 pages; International audience; In biogeography, the similarity distance decay (SDD) relationship refers to the decrease in compositional similarity between communities with geographical distance. Although representing one of the most widely used relationships in biogeography, a review of the literature reveals that: (1) SDD is influenced by both spatial extent and sample size; (2) the potential effect of the phylogenetic level has yet to be tested; (3) the effect of a marked biogeographical structuring upon SDD patterns is largely unknown; and (4) the SDD relationship is usually explored with modern, mainly terrestrial organisms, whereas fossil taxa are seldom used in that perspective. U…

Découverte d’un nouveau site à traces de pas de Dinosaures dans le Bathonien des Causses (Le Gayrand, Gorges de la Jonte, Lozère, France).

7 pages; National audience

La biodiversité au Sinémurien.

3 pages; National audience

Les interfaces à traces de pas de théropodes du Plateau des Causses (Sud de la France) : déterminations palichnologiques et interprétations paléoenvironnementales

De nombreuses empreintes ont été découvertes depuis le début des années 2000 dans le Bathonien des Grands Causses, dans les vallées de la Jonte et de la Dourbie, autour de Meyrueis (48) et de Nant (12).Ces traces ont été identifiées par Sciau et al. (2006) comme étant des ichnites d’origine dinosaurienne. Les auteurs ont pu distinguer des traces tridactyles et d’autres de formes ovoïdes. Ils ont attribué la formation des premières à des théropodes et des autres à des sauropodes. Cependant, un doute subsistait quant à leur origine réelle, ainsi que leur détermination ichnologique qui restait à faire.Notre travail consiste en un relevé et des mesures des traces tridactyles et ovoïdes, supposé…

Paris Biota: At the dawn of modern marine faunas?

Late Miocene to Early Pliocene Chadian vertebrate faunas: palaeoenvironmental and palaeobiogeographical implications

5 pages; International audience

Evolution of depositional settings in the Torrey area during the Smithian (Early Triassic, Utah, USA) and their significance for the biotic recovery

This work focuses on well-exposed Lower Triassic sedimentary rocks in the area of Torrey (south-central Utah, USA). The studied Smithian deposits record a large-scale third-order sea-level cycle, which permits a detailed reconstruction of the evolution of depositional settings. During the middle Smithian, peritidal microbial limestones associated with a rather low-diversity benthic fauna were deposited seaward of the tidal flat siliciclastic red beds. Associated with siliceous sponges, microbial limestones formed small m-scale patch reefs. During the late middle to late Smithian interval, the sedimentary system is characterized by tidal flat dolostones of an interior platform, ooid-bioclast…

Les Gonorynchiformes fossiles : distribution et diversité.

8 pages; Longtemps placés dans les clupéiformes, les Gonorynchiformes ont rejoint les Ostariophysi au sein desquels ils représentent le groupe-frère des Otophysi. La monophylie du groupe est maintenant bien établie tant par les données morphologiques que moléculaires. De nos jours, quatre familles sont représentées par sept genres (dont cinq d'eau douce) et 35 espèces (dont 28 d'eau douce). Les Gonorynchiformes fossiles sont connus depuis le Crétacé basal (soit 145-140 millions d'années) jusqu'au Miocène basal (soit 23,5-20 millions d'années), et plusieurs taxons ont de grandes extensions temporelles. Ils sont représentés par environ 18 genres et 34 espèces. Avec moins de 50 localités fossi…

Des empreintes de dinosaures dans les karsts des Grands Causses : grottes de Malaval et Castelbouc IV.

National audience; La préservation de traces de dinosaures dans les grottes des Grands Causses fait de ces karsts des sites d'intérêt patrimonial et scientifique majeur. Pourtant, ces lieux remarquables n’avaient jusqu’ici jamais fait l’objet d'une étude paléontologique poussée. Les premiers travaux scientifiques viennent de révéler un patrimoine ichnologique insoupçonné dans les grottes de Lozère : la grotte de Malaval et la grotte de Castelbouc IV. Des empreintes de dinosaures théropodes d’âge Jurassique inférieur ainsi que des pistes de grands dinosaures sauropodes d’âge Jurassique moyen ont respectivement été découvertes dans ces deux cavités.

Facies and depositional settings during the Smithin in the Torrey area (Early Triassic, Utah, USA)

International audience; The Permian-Triassic transition records the most devastating biotic crisis of the Phanerozoic with 90% of the marine genera being eradicated. The aftermath of this extinction is usually portrayed by large environmental perturbations such as ocean acidification, anoxia, euxinia and fluctuating productivity. However, these fluctuating conditions and their impact on the nature and tempo of the biotic recovery are still under debate. Thus, it is important to decipher the nature of the depositional settings and their putative spatio-temporal variations in order to improve our knowledge of post-crisis environments. The present work focuses on well-exposed Lower Triassic se…

Ammonoid recovery after the Permian–Triassic mass extinction: a re-exploration of morphological and phylogenetic diversity patterns

The explosive ammonoid rediversification after the Permian–Triassic mass extinction is now well understood in terms of taxonomic richness and biogeography. Using an updated dataset of Early Triassic ammonoids, we compare morphological disparity and taxonomic richness patterns at the regional and global scales. Disparity evolved similarly at both scales, suggesting a global influence of abiotic factors. Morphological diversification occurred early in the Smithian and a marked contraction of the morphospace took place during the end-Smithian extinction. We confirm that trends in disparity and richness were decoupled during the Griesbachian and Dienerian. Three macroevolutionary processes may …

Data from: Gauging scale effects and biogeographical signals in similarity distance decay analyses: an Early Jurassic ammonite case study

In biogeography, the similarity distance decay (SDD) relationship refers to the decrease in compositional similarity between communities with geographical distance. Although representing one of the most widely used relationships in biogeography, a review of the literature reveals that: (1) SDD is influenced by both spatial extent and sample size; (2) the potential effect of the phylogenetic level has yet to be tested; (3) the effect of a marked biogeographical structuring upon SDD patterns is largely unknown; and (4) the SDD relationship is usually explored with modern, mainly terrestrial organisms, whereas fossil taxa are seldom used in that perspective. Using this relationship, we explore…

High-resolution dynamics of Early Jurassic marine extinctions: the case of Pliensbachian–Toarcian ammonites (Cephalopoda)

The Pliensbachian–Toarcian interval was marked by major environmental disturbances and by a second-order mass extinction. Here, we reappraise the taxonomic, spatiotemporal and selective dynamics of extinctions over the whole interval, by analysing a high-resolution dataset of 772 ammonite species from NW Tethyan and Arctic domains. On average, 40–65% of ammonite species disappeared during each subchronozone, but higher extinction pulses (reaching 70–90%) prevailed from the Margaritatus to the Dispansum Chronozone. The main extinctions, corresponding to the Gibbosus, Pliensbachian–Toarcian boundary, Semicelatum, Bifrons–Variabilis, and Dispansum events, differed in their dynamics, suggesting…