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]
Age
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
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]
Assemblage
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):
Sponges
Color key
Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text ; crossed out taxa are discredited.
Brachiopods
Color key
Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text ; crossed out taxa are discredited.
Mollusks
Color key
Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text ; crossed out taxa are discredited.
Arthropods
Color key
Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text ; crossed out taxa are discredited.
Echinoderms
Color key
Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text ; crossed out taxa are discredited.
Chordates
Color key
Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text ; crossed out taxa are discredited.
Algae
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]
See also
References
^
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"Dynamics of the Largest Carbon Isotope Excursion During the Early Triassic Biotic Recovery" . Frontiers in Earth Science . 8 (196): 196.
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"Unexpected Early Triassic marine ecosystem and the rise of the Modern evolutionary fauna" . Science Advances . 3 (2): e1602159.
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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.
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^ 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" .
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^ Iniesto, Miguel; Thomazo, Christophe; Fara, Emmanuel; the Paris Biota Team (2019).
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^ 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 :
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^ 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.
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^ 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.
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^ 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.
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"Ammonoids and nautiloids from the earliest Spathian Paris Biota and other early Spathian localities in southeastern Idaho, USA" . Geobios . 54 : 13–36.
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^ 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.
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^
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"The Paris Biota decapod (Arthropoda) fauna and the diversity of Triassic decapods" . Journal of Paleontology . 96 (6): 1235–1263.
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^
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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.
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^ 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 :
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ISSN
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^ 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.
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^ 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.
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^
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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.
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doi :
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S2CID
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