Morphological selectivity of the Permian-Triassic ammonoid mass extinction

Ammonoids suffered a diversity bottleneck during the Permian-Triassic mass extinction (PTME) and experienced a rapid diversification in the Early Triassic. However, the kinds of ammonoids that were more likely to survive the PTME and that fueled subsequent diversification are still poorly known. We...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geology (Boulder) 2021-09, Vol.49 (9), p.1112-1116
Main Authors: Dai Xu, Dai Xu, Korn, Dieter, Song Haijun, Song Haijun
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ammonoidea
Cephalopoda
Changhsingian
Extinction
Fossils
Geology
Griesbachian
invertebrate
Lopingian
Lower Triassic
Mass extinctions
Mesozoic
Mollusca
Morphology
Multidimensional scaling
ornamentation
paleoecology
Paleontology
Paleozoic
Pattern recognition
Permian
Permian-Triassic boundary
Scaling
Selectivity
shells
statistical analysis
stratigraphic boundary
Survival
Triassic
Upper Permian
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Summary:Ammonoids suffered a diversity bottleneck during the Permian-Triassic mass extinction (PTME) and experienced a rapid diversification in the Early Triassic. However, the kinds of ammonoids that were more likely to survive the PTME and that fueled subsequent diversification are still poorly known. We compiled a comprehensive morphological data set and used the nonmetric multidimensional scaling method to reveal the impact of the PTME on the morphological selectivity of ammonoids. Our results show that postextinction taxa occupied a quite different morphospace when compared with the pre-extinction assemblages. The survivors were mainly smooth and weakly ornamented forms, while the late Permian species were dominated by coarsely ornamented forms. Contrary to previously recognized nonselective patterns, these results suggest a morphological selectivity of the Permian-Triassic crisis. Newcomers in the Griesbachian were mainly compressed and smooth forms. This morphological shift from the coarsely ornamented ammonoids dominating the Changhsingian to the smooth ammonoids dominating the Griesbachian possibly suggests an ecological turnover of ammonoids during the PTME.
ISSN:0091-7613
1943-2682
DOI:10.1130/G48788.1