New fossil assemblages from the Early Ordovician Fezouata Biota

Saleh, Farid; Vaucher, Romain; Vidal, Muriel; Hariri, Khadija El; Laibl, Lukà¡Å¡; Daley, Allison C; Gutiérrez-Marco, Juan Carlos; Candela, Yves; Harper, David A T; Ortega-Hernà¡ndez, Javier; Ma, Xiaoya; Rida, Ariba; Vizcaà¯no, Daniel; Lefebvre, Bertrand

New fossil assemblages from the Early Ordovician Fezouata Biota

Resource type

Journal article

Creator (person)

Saleh, Farid

Vaucher, Romain

Vidal, Muriel

Hariri, Khadija El

Laibl, Lukà¡Å¡

Daley, Allison C

Gutiérrez-Marco, Juan Carlos

Candela, Yves

ORCID

Harper, David A T

Ortega-Hernà¡ndez, Javier

Ma, Xiaoya

Rida, Ariba

Vizcaà¯no, Daniel

Lefebvre, Bertrand

Date published

December 2022

Abstract

The 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 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

Funder name	Awards
Chinese Postdoctoral Science Foundation	2020M683388
Funding of the FGSE at Lausanne University
Czech Science Foundation	20-23550Y
Institute of Geology of the Czech Academy of Sciences	RVO 67985831
Swiss National Science Foundation	205321_179084
Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacià³n	CGL2017-87631-P
National Science Foundation	2047192
INSU, CNRS