Skeletal elements controlled soft-tissue preservation in echinoderms from the Early Ordovician Fezouata Biota

IF 1.6 4区 地球科学 Q2 PALEONTOLOGY Geobios Pub Date : 2023-12-01 DOI:10.1016/j.geobios.2023.08.001
Farid Saleh , Bertrand Lefebvre , Christophe Dupichaud , Emmanuel L.O. Martin , Martina Nohejlová , Léa Spaccesi
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引用次数: 1

Abstract

Exceptional fossils preserve non-biomineralized tissues in the geological record and provide crucial information on the evolution of life on Earth. Exceptionally preserved fossils are rarely discovered complete, challenging their morphological description and their palaeontological interpretation. Although decay experiments reconstructing degradation sequences in modern animals are necessary to better understand taphonomic processes involved in exceptional preservation, their applicability to some enigmatic and/or extinct fossil taxa remains limited. Here, based on a representative sample of 423 specimens collected from a single stratigraphic level from the Early Ordovician Fezouata Biota, we reconstruct the degradation sequence of both skeletal remains and soft tissues of stylophorans, an extinct clade of echinoderms. The rare preservation of the water vascular system can be explained by the rapid post-mortem opening of the cover plates resulting from the fast decay of associated muscles and the action of ligaments. In contrast, the proximal aulacophore and associated stylocone formed a particularly decay-resistant closed module, thus favouring the preferential preservation of included soft parts (fore-gut). The non-random location and frequency of pyritised intra-skeletal structures strongly suggest that skeletal elements dictated the preservation of underlying soft parts. As such, taphonomic investigations should not only focus on the environment surrounding a decaying animal, but also on the different environments created within a particular carcass.

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早奥陶世费祖阿塔生物群棘皮动物中控制软组织保存的骨骼元素
特殊化石在地质记录中保存了非生物矿化组织,为地球生命的进化提供了重要信息。保存完整的特殊化石很少被发现,这对化石的形态描述和古生物学解释提出了挑战。虽然重建现代动物降解序列的衰变实验对于更好地理解特殊保存所涉及的岩石学过程非常必要,但这些实验对一些神秘和/或已灭绝化石类群的适用性仍然有限。在这里,我们根据从早奥陶世费祖阿塔生物群的一个地层中采集的 423 件标本中的代表性样本,重建了已灭绝的棘皮动物支系--stylophorans 的骨骼和软组织的降解序列。由于相关肌肉和韧带的快速腐烂,盖板在死后迅速打开,这可以解释为什么水血管系统很少被保存下来。与此相反,近端鳃瓣和相关花柱石形成了一个特别耐腐的封闭模块,因此有利于优先保存其中的软体部分(前肠)。骨骼内结构黄铁矿化的非随机位置和频率强烈表明,骨骼元素决定了底层软体部分的保存。因此,古乐彩网学研究不仅要关注动物腐烂时周围的环境,还要关注特定尸体内部形成的不同环境。
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来源期刊
Geobios
Geobios 地学-古生物学
CiteScore
3.30
自引率
6.20%
发文量
28
审稿时长
6-12 weeks
期刊介绍: Geobios publishes bimonthly in English original peer-reviewed articles of international interest in any area of paleontology, paleobiology, paleoecology, paleobiogeography, (bio)stratigraphy and biogeochemistry. All taxonomic groups are treated, including microfossils, invertebrates, plants, vertebrates and ichnofossils. Geobios welcomes descriptive papers based on original material (e.g. large Systematic Paleontology works), as well as more analytically and/or methodologically oriented papers, provided they offer strong and significant biochronological/biostratigraphical, paleobiogeographical, paleobiological and/or phylogenetic new insights and perspectices. A high priority level is given to synchronic and/or diachronic studies based on multi- or inter-disciplinary approaches mixing various fields of Earth and Life Sciences. Works based on extant data are also considered, provided they offer significant insights into geological-time studies.
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