Thorne, Philippa M. and Ruta, Marcello and Benton, Michael J. (2011) Resetting the evolution of marine reptiles at the Triassic-Jurassic boundary. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108 (20). pp. 8339-8344. ISSN 0027-8424

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Abstract

Ichthyosaurs were important marine predators in the Early Jurassic, and an abundant and diverse component of Mesozoic marine ecosystems. Despite their ecological importance, however, the Early Jurassic species represent a reduced remnant of their former significance in the Triassic. Ichthyosaurs passed through an evolutionary bottleneck at, or close to, the Triassic-Jurassic boundary, which reduced their diversity to as few as three or four lineages. Diversity bounced back to some extent in the aftermath of the end-Triassic mass extinction, but disparity remained at less than one-tenth of pre-extinction levels, and never recovered. The group remained at low diversity and disparity for its final 100 Myr. The end-Triassic mass extinction had a previously unsuspected profound effect in resetting the evolution of apex marine predators of the Mesozoic.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Ichthyopterygia, cladistics, phylogeny, morphometrics, ref06, refdoi
Subjects:	C Biological Sciences > C300 Zoology C Biological Sciences > C182 Evolution F Physical Sciences > F641 Palaeontology C Biological Sciences > C181 Biodiversity
Divisions:	College of Sciences > Faculty of Science > School of Life Sciences
Depositing User:	Marcello Ruta
Date Deposited:	27 Sep 2012 14:13
Last Modified:	08 May 2013 10:44
URI:	http://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/id/eprint/6285

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