ALBERT

Description: Phanerozoic trends in shell and life habit traits linked to postmortem durability were evaluated for the most common fossil brachiopod, gastropod, and bivalve genera in order to test for changes in taphonomic bias. Using the Paleobiology Database, we tabulated occurrence frequencies of genera for 48 intervals of [~]11 Myr duration. The most frequently occurring genera, cumulatively representing 40% of occurrences in each time bin, were scored for intrinsic durability on the basis of shell size, reinforcement (ribs, folds, and spines), life habit, and mineralogy. Shell durability is positively correlated with the number of genera in a time bin, but durability traits exhibit different temporal patterns across higher taxa, with notable offsets in the timing of changes in these traits. We find no evidence for temporal decreases in durability that would indicate taphonomic bias at the Phanerozoic scale among commonly occurring genera. Also, all three groups show a remarkable stability in mean shell size through the Phanerozoic, an unlikely pattern if strong size-filtering taphonomic megabiases were affecting the fossil record of shelly faunas. Moreover, small shell sizes are attained in the early Paleozoic in brachiopods and in the latest Paleozoic in gastropods but are steady in bivalves; unreinforced shells are common to all groups across the entire Phanerozoic; organophosphatic and aragonitic shells dominate only the oldest and youngest time bins; and microstructures having high organic content are most common in the oldest time bins. In most cases, the timing of changes in durability-related traits is inconsistent with a late Mesozoic Marine Revolution. The post-Paleozoic increase in mean gastropod reinforcement occurs in the early Triassic, suggesting either an earlier appearance and expansion of durophagous predators or other drivers. Increases in shell durability hypothesized to be the result of increased predation in the late Mesozoic are not evident in the common genera examined here. Infaunal life habit does increase in the late Mesozoic, but it does not become more common than levels already attained during the Paleozoic, and only among bivalves does the elevated late Mesozoic level persist through the Holocene. These temporal patterns suggest control on the occurrence of durability-related traits by individual evolutionary histories rather than taphonomic megabiases. Our findings do not mean taphonomic biases are absent from the fossil record, but rather that their effects apparently have had little net effect on the relative occurrence of shell traits generally thought to confer higher preservation potential over long time scales.

Description: Phanerozoic trends in shell and life habit traits linked to postmortem durability were evaluated for the most common fossil brachiopod, gastropod, and bivalve genera in order to test for changes in taphonomic bias. Using the Paleobiology Database, we tabulated occurrence frequencies of genera for 48 intervals of ∼11 Myr duration. The most frequently occurring genera, cumulatively representing 40% of occurrences in each time bin, were scored for intrinsic durability on the basis of shell size, reinforcement (ribs, folds, and spines), life habit, and mineralogy.Shell durability is positively correlated with the number of genera in a time bin, but durability traits exhibit different temporal patterns across higher taxa, with notable offsets in the timing of changes in these traits. We find no evidence for temporal decreases in durability that would indicate taphonomic bias at the Phanerozoic scale among commonly occurring genera. Also, all three groups show a remarkable stability in mean shell size through the Phanerozoic, an unlikely pattern if strong size-filtering taphonomic megabiases were affecting the fossil record of shelly faunas. Moreover, small shell sizes are attained in the early Paleozoic in brachiopods and in the latest Paleozoic in gastropods but are steady in bivalves; unreinforced shells are common to all groups across the entire Phanerozoic; organophosphatic and aragonitic shells dominate only the oldest and youngest time bins; and microstructures having high organic content are most common in the oldest time bins.In most cases, the timing of changes in durability-related traits is inconsistent with a late Mesozoic Marine Revolution. The post-Paleozoic increase in mean gastropod reinforcement occurs in the early Triassic, suggesting either an earlier appearance and expansion of durophagous predators or other drivers. Increases in shell durability hypothesized to be the result of increased predation in the late Mesozoic are not evident in the common genera examined here. Infaunal life habit does increase in the late Mesozoic, but it does not become more common than levels already attained during the Paleozoic, and only among bivalves does the elevated late Mesozoic level persist through the Holocene.These temporal patterns suggest control on the occurrence of durability-related traits by individual evolutionary histories rather than taphonomic megabiases. Our findings do not mean taphonomic biases are absent from the fossil record, but rather that their effects apparently have had little net effect on the relative occurrence of shell traits generally thought to confer higher preservation potential over long time scales.

Description: Microfossil bonebeds are multi-individual accumulations of disarticulated and dissociated vertebrate hardparts dominated by elements in the millimeter to centimeter size range (≤75% of bioclasts ≤5 cm maximum dimension). Modes of accumulation are often difficult to decipher from reports in the literature, although predatory (scatological) and fluvial/hydraulic origins are typically proposed. We studied the sedimentology and taphonomy of 27 microfossil bonebeds in the Campanian Judith River Formation of Montana in order to reconstruct formative histories. Sixteen of the bonebeds examined are hosted by fine-grained facies that accumulated in low-energy aquatic settings (pond/lake microfossil bonebeds). Eleven of the bonebeds are embedded in sandstones that accumulated in ancient fluvial settings (channel-hosted microfossil bonebeds). In lieu of invoking separate pathways to accumulation based on facies distinctions, we present a model that links the accumulation of bioclasts in the two facies. We propose that vertebrate material initially accumulates to fossiliferous levels in ponds/lakes and is later reworked and redeposited as channel-hosted assemblages. This interpretation is grounded in reasonable expectations of lacustrine and fluvial depositional systems and supported by taphonomic data. Moreover, it is consistent with faunal data that indicate that channel-hosted assemblages and pond/lake assemblages are similar with regard to presence/absence and rank-order abundance of taxa.This revised model of bonebed formation has significant implications for studies of vertebrate paleoecology that hinge on analyses of faunal data recovered from vertebrate microfossil assemblages. Pond/lake microfossil bonebeds in the Judith River record are preserved in situ at the scale of the local paleoenvironment, with no indication of postmortem transport into or out of the life habitat. Moreover, they are time-averaged samples of their source communities, which increases the likelihood of capturing both ecologically abundant species and more rare or transient members of the paleocommunity. These attributes make pond/lake microfossil bonebeds excellent targets for paleoecological studies that seek to reconstruct overall community membership and structure. In contrast, channel-hosted microfossil bonebeds in the Judith River record are out of place from a paleoenvironmental perspective because they are reworked from preexisting pond/lake assemblages and redeposited in younger channel facies. However, despite a history of exhumation and redeposition, channel-hosted microfossil bonebeds are preserved in relatively close spatial proximity to original source beds. This taphonomic reconstruction is counter to the commonly held view that microfossil bonebeds are biased samples that have experienced long-distance transport and significant hydrodynamic sorting.

Description: Stable carbon and oxygen isotope ratios were measured for carbonate in samples of hadrosaurid tooth enamel and dentine, and gar scale ganoine and dentine from five geologically “contemporaneous“ (two-million-year resolution) and geographically distant late Campanian formations (Two Medicine, Dinosaur Park, Judith River, Kaiparowits, and Fruitland) in the Western Interior Basin. In all cases, isotopic offsets were observed between enamel and dentine from the same teeth, with dentine being characterized by higher and more variable carbon and oxygen isotope ratios. Isotopic offsets were also observed between gar ganoine and hadrosaur enamel in all sites analyzed. Both of these observations indicate that diagenetic overprinting of enamel isotope ratios did not entirely obfuscate primary signals. Decreases in carbon and oxygen isotope ratios were observed in hadrosaur enamel from east to west, and overlap in isotope ratios occurred only between two of the sampled sites (Dinosaur Park and Judith River Formations).The lack of isotopic overlap for enamel among localities could be due to diagenetic resetting of isotope ratios such that they reflect local groundwater effects rather than primary biogenic inputs. However, the large range in carbon isotope ratios, the consistent taxonomic offsets for enamel/ganoine data, and comparisons of enamel-dentine data from the same teeth all suggest that diagenesis is not the lone driver of the signal. In the absence of major alteration, the mostly likely explanation for the isotopic patterns observed is that hadrosaurids from the targeted formations were eating plants and drinking waters with distinct isotopic ratios. One implication of this reconstruction is that hadrosaurids in the Late Cretaceous of the Western Interior did not migrate to an extent that would obscure local isotopic signatures.

Description: Few bryozoans have been described from the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway (WIS), which is consistent with the low diversity of other typically stenohaline groups in this large expanse of relatively shallow marine water. Here we describe a new cheilostome bryozoan, Conopeum flumineum n. sp., based on well-preserved material from the Campanian Judith River Formation of the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument in north-central Montana. The new species shows strong morphological similarities with Conopeum seurati, a Recent species that is often categorized as brackish, but which is euryhaline and can also be found in marine and stenohaline environments. The new Campanian bryozoan species was found in a locality also containing fragmentary remains of dinosaurs and other terrestrial vertebrates, as well freshwater mollusks and terrestrial plant debris. The sedimentology and facies associations of the fossil-bearing site suggest that the depositional setting was a swamp or tidally influenced fluvial backwater on the Judith River coastal plain. The proximity of the site to the western shoreline of the WIS presumably made it susceptible to occasional marine flooding during storms or extreme tides. Previous occurrences of Conopeum in the Cretaceous of the Western Interior have also been associated with dinosaur remains, corroborating the very nearshore and at times even ‘upstream’ distribution of this euryhaline genus.UUID: http://zoobank.org/bb1fdc8a-5017-44c5-9251-9e24ef3995e3.