Rock assemblage in Paris Canyon, Idaho, U.S.
The Paris biota is an exceptionally diverse Early Triassic (approximately 249 million years ago )[ 1] fossil assemblage described in 2017 from the Lower Shale Member of the Thaynes Group . It was first discovered in Paris Canyon, west of the town of Paris in Bear Lake County , southeastern Idaho , United States.[ 2] This biota was later also found in coeval and slightly younger beds in northeastern Nevada (Elko County ) and Bear Lake and Caribou counties, southeastern Idaho.[ 3]
Bajarunia sp. ammonoid fossil
The Paris biota was found in layers dating back to the earliest Spathian, a substage of the Olenekian stage of the Early Triassic epoch . The biostratigraphy is constrained by the presence of the ammonoids Tirolites and Bajarunia , and conodonts .[ 2] [ 3] The Tirolites /Columbites beds are dated with 248.853±0.086 Ma .[ 1] The Paris biota was later also discovered in slightly younger beds in Immigrant Canyon, northeastern Nevada, associated with the ammonoid index fossils Prohungarites sp. and Neopopanoceras haugi , which point to a middle–late Spathian age.[ 3]
Palaeogeography and paleoenvironment [ edit ]
The organisms of the Paris biota lived in a shallow marine epicontinental sea (western USA basin) on the western coast of Pangea . The sites were located in a near-equatorial position during the Early Triassic epoch.[ 2] [ 3]
The Spathian aged Paris biota is one of the earliest diverse fossil assemblages from the post-extinction interval, about 3 million years[ 1] [ 4] after the Permian-Triassic mass extinction , and the first one in the wake of the Smithian-Spathian boundary extinction .
The Paris biota comprises fossils belonging to 20 orders or seven phyla : (1) Retaria (foraminifers )[ 2] (2) sponges , (3) brachiopods (4) mollusks , (5) arthropods , (6) echinoderms and (7) chordates (vertebrates ). The assemblage also contains fossil algae and coprolites (trace fossils ). Ammonoids and bivalves dominate the fauna .[ 2] It combines Palaeozoic survivors with members of the Modern evolutionary fauna (i.e., groups that are typical for the Mesozoic and Cenozoic ). The Paris biota therefore provides a glimpse at the faunal turnover associated with the largest mass extinction in Earth's history. For example, the biota includes leptomitid protomonaxonid sponges, a group that is otherwise known from the early Paleozoic era (e.g. from the Cambrian Burgess Shale of western Canada). Among the modern clades, it contains a gladius -bearing coleoid cephalopod (Idahoteuthis ).
The preservation of Paris biota organisms is considered taxon-dependent, but is not fully understood.[ 5] The study of some fossils could be improved using synchrotron μXRF imaging.[ 6]
Most organisms of the Paris biota were described in a thematic issue of the journal Geobios in 2019 ,[ 7] but new taxa were also subsequently described.
In 2023 , another diverse post-extinction biota was presented from South China, the Dienerian aged Guiyang biota ,[ 8] which includes fossils belonging to twelve classes and 19 orders. The Early Triassic is generally considered as an environmentally unstable and diversity-poor interval,[ 2] highlighting the importance of the discovery of such diverse lagerstätten .
The following taxa (animals sorted by phylum) were either reported or described from the Paris biota (not listed are the foraminifera and conodonts, which have not yet been described):
Color key
Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text ; crossed out taxa are discredited.
Color key
Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text ; crossed out taxa are discredited.
Color key
Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text ; crossed out taxa are discredited.
Color key
Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text ; crossed out taxa are discredited.
Color key
Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text ; crossed out taxa are discredited.
Color key
Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text ; crossed out taxa are discredited.
Color key
Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text ; crossed out taxa are discredited.
Algae of the Paris biota
Taxon / Genus
Species
Notes
Algae
Gen. et ap. indet.
Filamental algae and other algae[ 3]
Dasycladales
Gen. et ap. indet.
An unicellular green algae[ 3]
Rhodophyta
Gen. et ap. indet.
A red algae[ 3]
^ a b c Widmann, Philipp; Bucher, Hugo; Leu, Marc; Vennemann, Torsten; Bagherpour, Borhan; Schneebeli-Hermann, Elke; Goudemand, Nicolas; Schaltegger, Urs (2020). "Dynamics of the Largest Carbon Isotope Excursion During the Early Triassic Biotic Recovery" . Frontiers in Earth Science . 8 (196): 196. Bibcode :2020FrEaS...8..196W . doi :10.3389/feart.2020.00196 .
^ a b c d e f g h i j k Brayard, Arnaud; Krumenacker, L. J.; Botting, Joseph P.; Jenks, James F.; Bylund, Kevin G.; Fara, Emmanuel; Vennin, Emmanuelle; Olivier, Nicolas; Goudemand, Nicolas; Saucède, Thomas; Charbonnier, Sylvain; Romano, Carlo; Doguzhaeva, Larisa; Thuy, Ben; Hautmann, Michael; Stephen, Daniel A.; Thomazo, Christophe; Escarguel, Gilles (2017). "Unexpected Early Triassic marine ecosystem and the rise of the Modern evolutionary fauna" . Science Advances . 3 (2): e1602159. Bibcode :2017SciA....3E2159B . doi :10.1126/sciadv.1602159 . PMC 5310825 . PMID 28246643 .
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af Smith, Christopher P.A.; Laville, Thomas; Fara, Emmauel; Escarguel, Gilles; Olivier, Nicolas; Vennin, Emmanuelle; Goudemand, Nicolas; Bylund, Kevin G.; Jenks, James F.; Stephen, Daniel A.; Hautmann, Michael; Charbonnier, Sylvain; Krumenacker, L.J.; Brayard, Arnaud (2021). "Exceptional fossil assemblages confirm the existence of complex Early Triassic ecosystems during the early Spathian" . Scientific Reports . 11 (1): 19657. Bibcode :2021NatSR..1119657S . doi :10.1038/s41598-021-99056-8 . PMC 8490361 . PMID 34608207 .
^ Baresel, Björn; Bucher, Hugo; Bagherpour, Borhan; Brosse, Morgane; Guodun, Kuang; Schaltegger, Urs (6 March 2017). "Timing of global regression and microbial bloom linked with the Permian-Triassic boundary mass extinction: implications for driving mechanisms" . Scientific Reports . 7 : 43630. Bibcode :2017NatSR...743630B . doi :10.1038/srep43630 . PMC 5338007 . PMID 28262815 .
^ Iniesto, Miguel; Thomazo, Christophe; Fara, Emmanuel; the Paris Biota Team (2019). "Deciphering the exceptional preservation of the Early Triassic Paris Biota (Bear Lake County, Idaho, USA)" . Geobios . 54 : 81–93. Bibcode :2019Geobi..54...81I . doi :10.1016/j.geobios.2019.04.002 . S2CID 146648069 .
^ Brayard, Arnaud; Gueriau, Pierre; Thoury, Mathieu; Escarguel, Gilles; the Paris Biota Team (2019). "Glow in the dark: Use of synchrotron μXRF trace elemental mapping and multispectral macro-imaging on fossils from the Paris Biota (Bear Lake County, Idaho, USA)" . Geobios . 54 : 71–79. Bibcode :2019Geobi..54...71B . doi :10.1016/j.geobios.2019.04.008 . S2CID 146629155 .
^ Brayard, Arnaud; Fara, Emmanuel; Escarguel, Gilles (2019). "Foreword for the thematic issue "The Paris Biota (Bear Lake County, Idaho, USA): an exceptional window on the Early Triassic marine life "". Geobios . 54 : 1–3. Bibcode :2019Geobi..54....1B . doi :10.1016/j.geobios.2019.04.009 . S2CID 146125332 .
^ Dai, Xu; Davies, Joshua H.F.L.; Yuan, Zhiwei; Brayard, Arnaud; Ovtcharova, Maria; Xu, Guanghui; Liu, Xiaokang; Smith, Christopher P.A.; Schweitzer, Carrie E.; Li, Mingtao; Perrot, Morgann G.; Jiang, Shouyi; Miao, Luyi; Cao, Yiran; Yan, Jia; Bai, Ruoyu; Wang, Fengyu; Guo, Wei; Song, Huyue; Tian, Li; Dal Corso, Jacopo; Liu, Yuting; Chu, Daoliang; Song, Haijun (2023). "A Mesozoic fossil lagerstätte from 250.8 million years ago shows a modern-type marine ecosystem". Science . 379 (6632): 567–572. Bibcode :2023Sci...379..567D . doi :10.1126/science.adf1622 . PMID 36758082 . S2CID 256697946 .
^ Botting, Joseph P.; Brayard, Arnaud; the Paris Biota Team (2019). "A late-surviving Triassic protomonaxonid sponge from the Paris Biota (Bear Lake County, Idaho, USA)". Geobios . 54 : 5–11. Bibcode :2019Geobi..54....5B . doi :10.1016/j.geobios.2019.04.006 . S2CID 146559079 .
^ a b c d e f g h i j Brayard, Arnaud; Jenks, James F.; Bylund, Kevin G.; the Paris Biota Team (2019). "Ammonoids and nautiloids from the earliest Spathian Paris Biota and other early Spathian localities in southeastern Idaho, USA" . Geobios . 54 : 13–36. Bibcode :2019Geobi..54...13B . doi :10.1016/j.geobios.2019.04.007 . S2CID 146753373 .
^ Doguzhaeva, Larisa A.; Brayard, Arnaud; Goudemand, Nicolas; Krumenacker, L. J.; Jenks, James F.; Bylund, Kevin G.; Fara, Emmanuel; Olivier, Nicolas; Vennin, Emmanuelle; Escarguel, Gilles (2018). "An Early Triassic gladius associated with soft tissue remains from Idaho, USA—a squid-like coleoid cephalopod at the onset of Mesozoic Era" . Acta Palaeontologica Polonica . 63 (2): 341–355. doi :10.4202/app.00393.2017 .
^ a b c d Smith, Christopher P. A.; Charbonnier, Sylvain; Jenks, James F.; Bylund, Kevin G.; Escarguel, Gilles; Olivier, Nicolas; Fara, Emmanuel; Brayard, Arnaud (2022). "The Paris Biota decapod (Arthropoda) fauna and the diversity of Triassic decapods" . Journal of Paleontology . 96 (6): 1235–1263. Bibcode :2022JPal...96.1235S . doi :10.1017/jpa.2022.34 . S2CID 249448157 .
^ a b Charbonnier, Sylvain; Brayard, Arnaud; the Paris Biota Team (2019). "New thylacocephalans from the Early Triassic Paris Biota (Bear Lake County, Idaho, USA)" . Geobios . 54 : 37–43. Bibcode :2019Geobi..54...37C . doi :10.1016/j.geobios.2019.04.005 . S2CID 146346240 .
^ Smith, C.P.A.; Aubier, P.; Charbonnier, S.; Laville, T.; Olivier, N.; Escarguel, G.; Jenks, J.F.; Bylund, K.G.; Fara, E.; Brayard, A. (2023-03-31). "Closing a major gap in mantis shrimp evolution - first fossils of Stomatopoda from the Triassic" . Bulletin of Geosciences : 95–110. doi :10.3140/bull.geosci.1864 . ISSN 1802-8225 .
^ Saucède, Thomas; Vennin, Emanuelle; Fara, Emmanuel; Olivier, Nicolas; the Paris Biota Team (2019). "A new holocrinid (Articulata) from the Paris Biota (Bear Lake County, Idaho, USA) highlights the high diversity of Early Triassic crinoids" . Geobios . 54 : 45–53. Bibcode :2019Geobi..54...45S . doi :10.1016/j.geobios.2019.04.003 . S2CID 146408512 .
^ Thuy, Ben; Escarguel, Gilles; the Paris Biota Team (2019). "A new brittle star (Ophiuroidea: Ophiodermatina) from the Early Triassic Paris Biota (Bear Lake County, Idaho, USA)". Geobios . 54 : 55–61. Bibcode :2019Geobi..54...55T . doi :10.1016/j.geobios.2019.04.004 . S2CID 146672908 .
^ a b Romano, Carlo; Argyriou, Thodoris; Krumenacker, L.J.; the Paris Biota Team (2019). "Chondrichthyan teeth from the Early Triassic Paris Biota (Bear Lake County, Idaho, USA)" (PDF) . Geobios . 54 : 63–70. Bibcode :2019Geobi..54...63R . doi :10.1016/j.geobios.2019.04.001 . S2CID 146224099 .