Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T08:24:36.343Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Carboniferous-Triassic gastropod diversity patterns and the Permo-Triassic mass extinction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2016

Douglas H. Erwin*
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824

Abstract

Paleozoic and post-Paleozoic marine faunas are strikingly different in composition. Paleozoic marine gastropods may be divided into archaic and modern groups based on taxonomic composition, ecological role, and morphology. Paleozoic assemblages were dominated by pleurotomariids (Eotomariidae and Phymatopleuridae), the Pseudozygopleuridae, and, to a lesser extent, the Euomphalidae, while Triassic assemblages were dominated by the Trochiina, Amberleyacea, and new groups of Loxonematoidea and Pleurotomariina. Several new groups of caenogastropods appeared as well. Yet the importance of the end-Permian mass extinction in generating these changes has been questioned. As part of a study of the diversity history of upper Paleozoic and Triassic gastropods, to test the extent to which taxonomic and morphologic trends established in the late Paleozoic are continued after the extinction, and to determine the patterns of selectivity operating during the extinction, I assembled generic and morphologic diversity data for 396 genera in 75 families from the Famennian through the Norian stages. Within this interval, gastropod genera underwent an adaptive radiation during the Visean and Namurian, largely of pleurotomariids, a subsequent period of dynamic stability through the Leonardian, a broad-based decline during the end-Permian mass extinction, and a two-phase post-extinction rebound during the Triassic. The patterns of generic diversity within superfamily-level clades were analyzed using Q-mode factor analysis and detrended correspondence analysis.

The results demonstrate that taxonomic affinity, previous clade history, generic age, and gross morphology did not determine survival probability of genera during the end-Permian extinction, with the exception of the bellerophontids, nor did increasing diversity within clades or expansion of particular morphologies prior to the extinction facilitate survival during the extinction or success after it. The pleurotomariids diversified during the Lower Permian, but were heavily hit by the extinction. Similarly, trochiform and turriculate morphologies, among those which Vermeij (1987) has identified as having increased predation resistance, were expanding in the late Paleozoic, but suffered similar extinction rates to other nondiversifying clades. Survival was a consequence of broad geographic and environmental distribution, as was the case during background periods.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature Cited

Batten, R. L. 1973. The vicissitudes of the gastropods during the interval of Guadalupian-Ladinian time. Pp. 596607. In Logan, A., and Hills, L. V. (eds.), The Permian and Triassic Systems and Their Mutual Boundary. Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 2; Calgary, Canada.Google Scholar
Batten, R. L. 1985. Permian gastropods from Perak, Malaysia. Part 3. The murchisoniids, cerithiids, loxonematids and subulitids. American Museum Novitates 2829.Google Scholar
Bottjer, D. J., and Jablonski, D. 1988. Paleoenvironmental patterns in the evolution of post-Paleozoic benthic marine invertebrates. Palaios 3:540560.Google Scholar
Boyajian, G. 1986. Phanerozoic trends in background extinction: consequence of an aging fauna. Geology 14:955958.Google Scholar
Branson, C. C. 1948. Bibliographic Index of Permian Invertebrates. Geological Society of America Memoir 26.Google Scholar
Erwin, D. H. 1989a. The end-Permian mass extinction. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 4:225229.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Erwin, D. H. 1989b. Regional paleoecology of Permian gastropod genera, southwestern United States, and the end-Permian mass extinction. Palaios 4:424438.Google Scholar
Gauch, H. G. Jr. 1982. Multivariate Analysis in Community Ecology. Cambridge University Press; Cambridge.Google Scholar
Gilinsky, N. L, and Bambach, R. K. 1987. Asymmetrical patterns of origination and extinction in higher taxa. Paleobiology 13:427445.Google Scholar
Haas, O. 1953. Mesozoic invertebrate faunas of Peru. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 101:328.Google Scholar
Haszprunar, G. 1988. On the origin and evolution of major gastropod groups, with special reference to the Streptoneura. Journal of Molluscan Studies 54:367441.Google Scholar
Hickman, C. S. 1988. Archaeogastropod evolution, phylogeny and systematics: a re-evaluation. Malacological Review, Supplement 4:1734.Google Scholar
Hill, M. O. 1979. DECORANA: a FORTRAN program for detrended correspondence analysis and reciprocal averaging. Ecology and Systematics Program, Cornell University; Ithaca, New York.Google Scholar
Hoare, R. D., and Sturgeon, M. T. 1978. The Pennsylvanian gastropod genera Cyclozyga and Helminthozyga and the classification of the Pseudozygopleuridae. Journal of Paleontology 52:850858.Google Scholar
Hoare, R. D., and Sturgeon, M. T. 1980. The Pennsylvanian pseudozygopleurid gastropod genus Gamizyga n. gen. from Ohio and West Virginia. Journal of Paleontology 54:159187.Google Scholar
Jablonski, D. 1986. Background and mass extinctions: the alternation of macroevolutionary regimes. Science 231:129133.Google Scholar
Kase, T. 1989. Autecology of Labrocuspis, a Middle Devonian omphalotrochid gastropod. Lethaia 22:149157.Google Scholar
Kitchell, J. A., and Carr, T. R. 1985. Nonequilibrium model of diversification: faunal turnover dynamics. Pp. 277309. In Valentine, J. W. (ed.), Phanerozoic Diversity Patterns. Princeton University Press; Princeton, New Jersey.Google Scholar
Knight, J. B., Cox, L. R., Keen, A. M., Batten, R. L., Yochelson, E. L., and Robertson, R. 1960. Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part I, Mollusca. Geological Society of America; Lawrence, Kansas.Google Scholar
Lindberg, D. R. 1988. The Patellogastropoda. Malacological Review, Supplement 4:3563.Google Scholar
Linsley, R. M. 1978. Locomotion rates and shell form in the Gastropoda. Malacologia 17:193206.Google Scholar
McLean, J. H. 1981. The Galapagos Rift limpet Neomphalus: relevance to understanding the evolution of a major Paleozoic-Mesozoic radiation. Malacologia 21:291336.Google Scholar
Palmer, A. R. 1983. The decade of North American geology: 1983 geologic time scale. Geology 10:503504.Google Scholar
Peel, J. S. 1984. Autecology of Silurian gastropods and monoplacophorans. Pp. 165182. In Bassett, M. G., and Laswon, T. D. (eds.), Autecology of Silurian Organisms. Special Papers in Palaeontology 32:1–295.Google Scholar
Ponder, W. F., and Waren, A. 1988. Classification of the Caenogastropoda and Heterostropha—a list of the family group names and higher taxa. Malacological Review, Supplement 4:288326.Google Scholar
Raup, D. M. 1979. Size of the Permo-Triassic bottleneck and its evolutionary implications. Science 206:217218.Google Scholar
Sepkoski, J. J. Jr. 1982. A compendium of fossil marine families. Milwaukee Public Museum Contributions in Biology and Geology 51.Google Scholar
Sepkoski, J. J. Jr. 1984. A kinetic model of Phanerozoic taxonomic diversity. III. Post-Paleozoic families and mass extinctions. Paleobiology 10:246267.Google Scholar
Sepkoski, J. J. Jr. 1989. Periodicity in extinction and the problem of catastrophism in the history of life. Journal of the Geological Society of London 146:719.Google Scholar
Signor, P. W. III. 1986. What was the tempo of the Mesozoic marine revolution?: durophagous predation and the frequency of turritelliform gastropod genera. Geological Society of America abstracts with Progam 18:750.Google Scholar
Signor, P. W. III, and Brett, C. E. 1984. The mid-Paleozoic precursor to the Mesozoic marine revolution. Paleobiology 10:229245.Google Scholar
Smith, A. B. 1988. Patterns of diversification and extinction in Early Paleozoic echinoderms. Palaeontology 31:799828.Google Scholar
Smith, A. B., and Patterson, C. 1988. The influence of taxonomic method on the perception of patterns of evolution. Evolutionary Biology 23:127216.Google Scholar
Stanley, G. D. Jr. 1977. Paleoecology of Subulites: a gastropod in the Middle Ordovician of central Tennessee. Journal of Paleontology 51:161168.Google Scholar
Valentine, J. W. 1986. The Permian–Triassic extinction event and invertebrate developmental models. Bulletin of Marine Science 39:607615.Google Scholar
Vermeij, G. J. 1977. The Mesozoic marine revolution: evidence from snails, predators and grazers. Paleobiology 3:245258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vermeij, G. J. 1987. Evolution and Escalation: An Ecologic History of Life. Princeton University Press; Princeton, New Jersey.Google Scholar
Vermeij, G. J., Schindel, D. E., and Zipser, E. 1981. Predation through geologic time: evidence from gastropod shell repair. Science 214:10241026.Google Scholar
Wenz, W. 1938. Gastropoda. Pp. 11639. In Schindewolf, O. (ed.), Handbuch der Paläozoologie, Volume 6.Google Scholar
Yin, H. F., and Yochelson, E. L. 1983a. Middle Triassic Gastropoda from Qingyan, Guizhou Province, China, part 1. Journal of Paleontology 57:162187.Google Scholar
Yin, H. F., and Yochelson, E. L. 1983b. Middle Triassic Gastropoda from Qingyan, Guizhou Province, China, part 2. Journal of Paleontology 57:515538.Google Scholar
Yin, H. F., and Yochelson, E. L. 1983c. Middle Triassic Gastropoda from Qingyan, Guizhou Province, China, part 3. Journal of Paleontology 57:10981127.Google Scholar
Yochelson, E. L. 1984. Historic and current considerations for revision of Paleozoic gastropod classification. Journal of Paleontology 58:259269.Google Scholar
Yochelson, E. L., and Saunders, B. W. 1967. A bibliographic index of North American late Paleozoic Hyolitha, Amphineura, Scaphopoda and Gastropoda. United States Geological Survey Bulletin 1210.Google Scholar