Microhabitat complexity—an example from Middle Devonian bryozoan-rich sediments in the Blankenheim Syncline (northern Eifel, Rheinisches Schiefergebirge)

A rich assemblage of Middle Devonian (late Eifelian) polychaete jaws (scolecodonts) from the Blankenheimerdorf section in the type Eifel area, western Germany, is described. The top part of the section also reflects the onset of the global Ka c ak Event. The sediments of the section were deposited in a shallow to deep subtidal environment on the southern Avalonian margin. The habitat was obviously favourable for jaw-bearing polychaetes, which are represented by 18 species belonging to 9 genera. The assemblage is dominated by polychaetaspids, followed by mochtyellids, paulinitids and kielanoprionids. Notably, this study documents one of the oldest records of kielanoprion-ids, a polychaete family common since the Middle Devonian and closely related to the extant Hartmaniellidae. This may indicate that a prominent change in jawed polychaete evolution occurred during the Early-Middle Devonian transition. Moreover, we present new information on polychaete palaeobiogeography, which when compared with previously described Devonian scolecodonts shows that very similar polychaete faunas with many species in common were widespread in today's Europe and North America.

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“…Similarly, many bryozoan species were found in common between the Eifel area and Eastern American realm (Ernst and Schroeder ; Ernst et al . ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…), and thus, the fossils are generally well preserved (for overview see Ernst et al . ). Stratigraphically, the studied section covers the Tortodus kockelianus and Polygnathus ensensis conodont biozones (latest Eifelian age).…”

Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 97%

Middle Devonian jawed polychaete fauna from the type Eifel area, western Germany, and its biogeographical and evolutionary affinities

Tonarová

Hints

Königshof

et al. 2016

Papers in Palaeontology

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“…Each columnal is a single calcite crystal, favoring them to resist and behave like a clast when eroded, thus being hard to distinguish between accumulated/resedimented and reworked entities (sensu Fernández-López, 1991). The occurrence of reworked pelmatozoan columnals in younger units is quite common (e.g., Zamora et al, 2009;Ernst et al, 2011;Donovan et al, 2016), including pluricolumnal specimens robust enough to resist reworking processes (e.g., Donovan et al, 2020). In terms of crinoid erosion indexes (e.g., CEI in Debout and Denayer, 2018), the Tihange pelmatozoan assemblage includes intact, unbroken columnals, to abraded and non-recognizable elements (Figs.…”

Section: Age Of the Tihange Member Fossil Associationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

HirnantiaFauna from the Condroz Inlier, Belgium: another case of a relict Ordovician shelly fauna in the Silurian?

et al. 2021

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The end-Ordovician mass extinction, linked to a major glaciation, led to deep changes in Hirnantian–Rhuddanian biotas. The Hirnantia Fauna, the first of two Hirnantian survival brachiopod-dominated communities, characterizes the lower–mid Hirnantian deposits globally, and its distribution is essential to understand how the extinction took place. In this paper, we describe, illustrate, and discuss the first macrofossiliferous Hirnantia Fauna assemblage from Belgium, occurring in the Tihange Member of the Fosses Formation at Tihange (Huy), within the Central Condroz Inlier. Six fossiliferous beds have yielded a low-diversity, brachiopod-dominated association. In addition to the brachiopods (Eostropheodonta hirnantensis, Plectothyrella crassicosta, Hirnantia sp., and Trucizetina? sp.), one trilobite (Mucronaspis sp.), four pelmatozoans (Xenocrinus sp., Cyclocharax [col.] paucicrenulatus, Conspectocrinus [col.] celticus, and Pentagonocyclicus [col.] sp.), three graptolites (Cystograptus ancestralis, Normalograptus normalis, and ?Metabolograptus sp.), together with indeterminate machaeridians and bryozoans were identified. The graptolite assemblage, from the Akidograptus ascensus-Parakidograptus acuminatus Biozone, indicates an early Rhuddanian (Silurian) age, and thus, an unexpectedly late occurrence of a typical Hirnantia Fauna. This Belgian association may represent an additional example of relict Hirnantia Fauna in the Silurian, sharing characteristics with the only other known from Rhuddanian rocks at Yewdale Beck (Lake District, England), although reworking has not been completely ruled out. The survival of these Hirnantian taxa into the Silurian might be linked to delayed post-glacial effects of rising temperature and sea-level, which may have favored the establishment of refugia in these two particular regions that were paleogeographically close during the Late Ordovician–early Silurian.

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Bryozoans, corals, and microfacies of Lower Eifelian (Middle Devonian) limestones at Kierspe, Germany

Ernst

May²,

Marks³

2012

Facies

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Microhabitat complexity—an example from Middle Devonian bryozoan-rich sediments in the Blankenheim Syncline (northern Eifel, Rheinisches Schiefergebirge)

Abstract: A Middle Devonian section in the Blankenheim Syncline (northern Eifel, Rheinisches Schiefergebirge) contains a rather diverse fauna dominated by bryozoans, brachiopods, corals and other taxa, such as calcimicrobes.

Cited by 10 publications

References 45 publications

Middle Devonian jawed polychaete fauna from the type Eifel area, western Germany, and its biogeographical and evolutionary affinities

Middle Devonian jawed polychaete fauna from the type Eifel area, western Germany, and its biogeographical and evolutionary affinities

HirnantiaFauna from the Condroz Inlier, Belgium: another case of a relict Ordovician shelly fauna in the Silurian?

Bryozoans, corals, and microfacies of Lower Eifelian (Middle Devonian) limestones at Kierspe, Germany

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