217 Paleontology, Paleoecology/Taphonomy

Tuesday, 21 October 2025
1:30 PM - 5:30 PM
HBGCC, 305

Echinoderms from the Neuville Lagerstätte (Late Ordovician, Québec, Canada): an Exceptional Taphonomic Window into Biotic Interactions and Functional Ecology

Paper number: 217-2
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 2:00 PM – 2:15 PM

Authors

Abstract

Many types of critical paleoecological data, such as interactions between species and soft tissues with ecological functions, are rarely preserved directly in the fossil record. As a result, paleoecological information must often be gleaned from indirect sources like phylogenetic bracketing, skeletal correlates of soft tissues, experimental and modeling studies, patterns of character displacement, or comparisons with modern analogues. Although these approaches are necessary and invaluable, the rare instances where paleoecological phenomena can be directly observed in the fossil record substantially improve our understanding of biotic interactions in deep time.

 

The early Katian (Upper Ordovician) Neuville Lagerstätte of Québec, Canada includes an exceptionally preserved and largely undescribed echinoderm fauna. At least fifteen crinoid species are present in the assemblage in addition to rhombiferans, solutes, stylophorans, asterozoans, cyclocystoids, echinoids, and paracrinoids. Most notably, the fauna contains a wealth of paleoecological data due to its exceptional preservation. The deep-water depositional setting of the Neuville Formation promoted preservation of complete stems and holdfasts of many crinoid and other pelmatozoan specimens. In addition to revealing many details of crinoid-substrate relationships, the assemblage preserves numerous examples of interactions between species, including secondary tiering of crinoids and rhombiferans and associations between crinoid holdfasts and trilobite skeletons. Furthermore, two crinoid specimens exhibit exceptional soft-tissue preservation of the tube feet, which is the second confirmed instance of tube foot preservation in fossil crinoids and the oldest known example of these structures in the fossil record. Because tube feet play an essential role in feeding but are so poorly known in the crinoid fossil record, the discovery of these structures provides new information on soft tissue anatomy and feeding mechanics in extinct crinoids. As a result, the Neuville Lagerstätte provides an exceptional taphonomic window into the ecology, functional morphology, and biotic interactions of Late Ordovician crinoids and other echinoderms.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 57, No. 6

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-412411

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