The earliest Jurassic brachiopod record in the Lusitanian BasinPalaeoecological insights

  1. R. Paredes
  2. M.J. Comas-Rengifo
  3. L.V. Duarte
  4. F. García Joral
  5. A. Goy
Book:
Actas de las XXXII Jornadas de la Sociedad Española de Paleontología
  1. Meléndez Hevia, Guillermo (dir.)
  2. Núñez, Alizia (dir.)
  3. Tomás, Marta (dir.)

Publisher: Instituto Geológico y Minero de España

ISBN: 978-84-9138-016-0

Year of publication: 2016

Pages: 465-470

Congress: Sociedad Española de Paleontología. Jornadas (32. 2016. null)

Type: Conference paper

Abstract

In this work the study of the earliest Lower Jurassic brachiopod record in the Lusitanian Basin (Portugal) is reassessed. New perspectives are given regarding the palaeoecology of the terebratulinid “Terebratula” ribeiroi. These animals are the first colonizer brachiopods in the platform and are the dominant filter-feeding elements in macrofauna assemblages and often are the exclusive taxa. They occur in abundance in lowermost Oxynotum Chronozone and became extinct during the Oxynotum Subchronozone in the transition from Coimbra to Água de Madeiros formations in S. Pedro de Moel area. There is a slight size reduction over time and the smooth ornamentation is a more common trend than the morphologies with ribs. As a dominant species it shows all morphology disparity until the moment of brachiopod diversity increase. It was a pioneer colonizer species in the basin and it dominates the benthic assemblages. The recent terebratellinid Magellania venosa is used as analogue to infer and corroborate palaeoecological aspects of “T. ” ribeiroi.