Early high rates and disparity in the evolution of ichthyosaurs

Moon, Benjamin C.; Stubbs, Thomas L.

doi:10.1038/s42003-020-0779-6

Cited by 51 publications

(68 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…3B), caused by Late Triassic extinctions and the bottleneck in marine reptile evolution previously noted (Thorne et al . 2011; Stubbs & Benton 2016; Moon & Stubbs 2020). This contraction between the Triassic and Jurassic reflects the loss of placodonts, non‐plesiosaurian eosauropterygians, thalattosaurs and other Triassic taxa.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Dramatic changes in the Late Triassic are evidence of the previously reported extinction and bottleneck (Thorne et al . 2011; Stubbs & Benton 2016; Moon & Stubbs 2020).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The initial expansion of marine reptiles in the Early and early Middle Triassic could be interpreted as an example of an ‘early burst’ radiation, as empty ecospace was filled rapidly by new taxa (Simpson 1944; Schluter 2000; Stubbs & Benton 2016; Moon & Stubbs 2020). The rapid rise of diversity, and especially disparity and ecospace occupancy, documents how Triassic taxa explored and adapted to newly vacant niches that were emptied by the PTME, as well as to previously unoccupied ecospace (Benton et al .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…2014; Kelley & Pyenson 2015; Stubbs & Benton 2016; Foffa et al . 2018; Moon & Stubbs 2020) and building complex ecosystems similar to modern marine networks (Fröbisch et al . 2013).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…2018; Flannery Sutherland et al . 2019; Moon & Stubbs 2020), ecospace modelling has only been used in one study of ichthyosaurs (Dick & Maxwell 2015). The aim of this study is to produce the first, holistic, high resolution record of ecospace occupancy and ecological disparity of marine tetrapods throughout the Mesozoic.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Evolution of ecospace occupancy by Mesozoic marine tetrapods

et al. 2020

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Ecology and morphology are different, and yet in comparative studies of fossil vertebrates the two are often conflated. The macroevolution of Mesozoic marine tetrapods has been explored in terms of morphological disparity, but less commonly using ecological‐functional categories. Here we use ecospace modelling to quantify ecological disparity across all Mesozoic marine tetrapods. We document the explosive radiation of marine tetrapod groups in the Triassic and their rapid attainment of high ecological disparity. Late Triassic extinctions led to a marked decline in ecological disparity, and the recovery of ecospace and ecological disparity was sluggish in the Early Jurassic. High levels of ecological disparity were again achieved by the Late Jurassic and maintained during the Cretaceous, when the ecospace became saturated by the Late Cretaceous. Sauropterygians, turtles and ichthyosauromorphs were the largest contributors to ecological disparity. Throughout the Mesozoic, we find that established groups remained ecologically conservative and did not explore occupied or vacant niches. Several parts of the ecospace remained vacant for long spans of time. Newly evolved, radiating taxa almost exclusively explored unoccupied ecospace, suggesting that abiotic releases are needed to empty niches and initiate diversification. In the balance of evolutionary drivers in Mesozoic marine tetrapods, abiotic factors were key to initiating diversification events, but biotic factors dominated the subsequent generation of ecological diversity.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Dramatic changes in the Late Triassic are evidence of the previously reported extinction and bottleneck (Thorne et al . 2011; Stubbs & Benton 2016; Moon & Stubbs 2020).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…2014; Kelley & Pyenson 2015; Stubbs & Benton 2016; Foffa et al . 2018; Moon & Stubbs 2020) and building complex ecosystems similar to modern marine networks (Fröbisch et al . 2013).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evolution of ecospace occupancy by Mesozoic marine tetrapods

et al. 2020

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The Paleoneurology of Ichthyopterygia and Sauropterygia: Diverse Endocranial Anatomies of Secondarily Aquatic Diapsids

Allemand

Moon²,

Voeten³

2022

Paleoneurology of Amniotes

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Cymbospondylus (Ichthyopterygia) from the Early Triassic of Svalbard and the early evolution of large body size in ichthyosaurs

Sander,

Dederichs,

Schaaf

et al. 2024

PalZ

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Ichthyosaurs were a highly successful group of marine reptiles in the Mesozoic. The ichthyosaur radiation is part of the recovery from the Permian-Triassic mass extinction. In the Early Triassic, this group underwent extensive global radiation, filling ecological niches for the first time that were later occupied by various other lineages of marine amniotes. However, the evolution of body size in ichthyosaurs is not fully understood, as most large-bodied taxa originate from the Middle Triassic and later, and are mostly known from only a few specimens. In this study, we describe three articulated posterior dorsal vertebrae (IGPB R660) of the ichthyosaur Cymbospondylus sp. from the latest Olenekian Keyserlingites subrobustus zone of the Vikinghøgda Formation of the Agardhdalen area, eastern Spitsbergen, Svalbard. We numerically estimated the total body length of IGPB R660 from dorsal vertebral centrum length using a comparative dataset of other species of the genus and two different allometric analyses. This approach yields total length estimates of 7.5 m and 9.5 m for the individual, respectively, the highest for any unambiguous Early Triassic ichthyosaur find. Earlier, higher estimates of 11 m were based on taxonomically and stratigraphically inconclusive material but do not appear unreasonable based on evidence provided in this paper. Our study underscores both the rapid ecosystem recovery after a major mass extinction and extremely rapid increases in body size in ichthyosaurs after their adaptation to a secondarily aquatic lifestyle.

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Early high rates and disparity in the evolution of ichthyosaurs

Cited by 51 publications

References 56 publications

Evolution of ecospace occupancy by Mesozoic marine tetrapods

Evolution of ecospace occupancy by Mesozoic marine tetrapods

The Paleoneurology of Ichthyopterygia and Sauropterygia: Diverse Endocranial Anatomies of Secondarily Aquatic Diapsids

Cymbospondylus (Ichthyopterygia) from the Early Triassic of Svalbard and the early evolution of large body size in ichthyosaurs

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