Linking Western Tethyan Rhynchonellide morphogroups to the key post-Palaeozoic extinction and turnover events

The last representatives of the Superfamily Wellerelloidea (Brachiopoda, Rhynchonellida) in the westernmost Tethys (Iberian paleomargins) prior to their demise in the early Toarcian Mass Extinction Event

“…Actually, Pseudogibbirhynchia and Cirpa were formerly assigned to the Family Wellerellidae, Subfamily Cirpinae, by several authors (e.g., Ager, 1965; Rousselle, 1973; Alméras, 1996; Alméras et al, 2007, 2014; among others), and subsequently separated, even at the Superfamily level ( Cirpa = Wellerelloidea; Pseudogibbirhynchia = Pugnacoidea). This systematic question was outlined again by Baeza-Carratalá and García Joral (2020) who, when analyzing the rhynchonellide morphogroups around critical post-Paleozoic events, clustered several ribbed Basiliolidae such as Pseudogibbirhynchia together with wellerelloids such as Cirpa , Salgirella , or Calcirhynchia on the basis of their crural development, costation, and microstructure of the shell. Certainly, except for the presence of fused hinge plates in Cirpa and particular differences in the beak features, Pseudogibirhynchia and Cirpa share most of their generic diagnostic criteria, such as the strengthened deltidial plates (even double in Cirpa ), hamiform crural development, eurinoid microstructure of the secondary layer of the shell, short to absent median septum, uniplicate anterior margin, and multicostate and often bifurcate ribbed valves.…”

“…Baeza-Carratalá and García Joral (2020) inferred a relationship between some structural features and resilience of several groups of rhynchonellides around crisis events. The eurinoid/ribbed/septifal rhynchonellide morphogroup, with cirpines standing among their constituents, typified a resilient pattern in epicontinental habitats.…”

“…Brachiopods, as important constituents of the benthic marine ecosystems, represent a useful tool to shed light on the environmental and ecological shifts across the Phanerozoic. Actually, numerous marine biotic crises and mass extinction events recurrently affected the phylum Brachiopoda, generating loss of biodiversity and affecting the evolutionary trajectories of different brachiopod clades (Gould and Calloway, 1980; Chen et al, 2005; Curry and Brunton, 2007; García Joral et al, 2011; Harper et al, 2014; Carlson, 2016; Finnegan et al, 2016, 2017; Vörös et al, 2016, 2019; Baeza-Carratalá and García Joral, 2020). Of these clades, the Order Rhynchonellida was affected by all the classical great extinction and diversification events, but it is still extant in the present-day marine ecosystems, becoming an effective tool for understanding the evolution and ecology of these ecosystems over time.…”

“…In addition to the long-established “Big Five” mass extinction events, Vörös et al (2019) defined several episodes of synchronous extinction of diverse brachiopod orders as clade extinctions, including, in the Early Jurassic, the Early Toarcian Mass Extinction Event (ETMEE) as the last clade extinction of brachiopods at an ordinal level. The ETMEE, which was one of the most significant environmental perturbations of the Mesozoic, represented a severe extinction for the brachiopod fauna (García Joral and Goy, 2000, 2009; Vörös, 2002; Comas-Rengifo et al, 2006; García Joral et al, 2011, 2018; Baeza-Carratalá et al, 2015, 2016a, 2017; Vörös et al, 2016, 2019; Baeza-Carratalá and García Joral, 2020). Fluctuation in brachiopod diversity dynamics can be detected early in the latest Spinatum (Pliensbachian) and in the Tenuicostatum (Toarcian) chronozones in the western Tethys, within the so-called “Extinction Interval” (ca.…”

Análisis de elementos traza en braquiópodos del Jurásico Inferior del Paleomargen Sud-Ibérico (SE de España). Correlación con las señales bióticas e implicaciones ambientales en torno al Evento de Extinción Masiva del Toarciense inferior

“…The isotopic curve is correlated with the sequence boundaries and the sea-level curve after Haq (2018). za-Carratalá et al, 2015za-Carratalá et al, , 2017Vörös et al, 2019;Baeza-Carratalá & García Joral, 2020).…”