Revision of the British Lower Jurassic Astartinae (Bivalvia)

Abstract

The Astartidae (Bivalvia) are a common benthic fossil in the British Lower Jurassic and as such it is important to understand their taxonomy so as to use them as a study system with which to consider environmental change through, and extinction events in, this epoch. The majority of the species of the Astartidae from the British Lower Jurassic are taxa within the subfamily Astartinae, encompassing the genera Neocrassina, Coelastarte and Oxyeurax. There has been some question as to whether those shells attributed to Neocrassina could be further split, with two species assigned to this genus having some characters that are atypical. We prefer to retain the atypical species within ?Neocrassina, the genus with which they have the greatest affinity, rather than erect another genus. This study assigns the suite of British Lower Jurassic fossil bivalves attributed to Nicaniella to Oxyeurax, based on the presence of a poorly defined 3a tooth and form of commarginal ridge ornament. Differentiation at the species level in Astartinae is complicated; the subfamily exhibits generally low disparity compared with other bivalves, compounded by ecomorphological effects and, in some cases, sexual dimorphism. We show that the Neocrassina lineage exhibits gradual changes in shape, as well as hinge plate development and complexity, through the Lower Jurassic, and identify potential sexual dimorphism in species of Oxyeurax. The temporally overlapping species of Oxyeurax display varying degrees of ornamental development which may well be environmentally controlled and are used in this study to define distinct new species. This study recognizes 12 distinct species of Astartinae from the British Lower Jurassic. Nine are established taxa (Neocrassina elegans, N. expansa, N. gueuxii, N. lurida, N. phaedra, ?N. camertonensis, ?N. dentilabrum, Oxyeurax duplicata, O. striatosulcata), whilstthree are new species (Coelastarte wardenensis, O. mickletonensis and Oxyeurax thompsoni). Only two of the British Lower Jurassic Astartinae species appear to have survived the global Early Toarcian extinction event as represented in British successions; one Neocrassina and one Oxyeurax. However, the lack of fossiliferous, high energy near shore environments in the early Toarcian may bias this observation, especially for Oxyeurax.