Work

Mass mortality of clam shrimp (Crustacea, Branchiopoda) from the Lower Devonian (Emsian) Fossil-Lagerstätte of Consthum, Luxembourg—paleoecologic and taxonomic implications

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: The hitherto oldest known mass mortality of clam shrimp is described from the Early Devonian (Emsian) of Luxembourg. This (almost) monospecific clam shrimp association allows for a much more comprehensive assessment and understanding of preservational and ontogenetic variation in a single taxon, Pseudestheria diensti (Gross, 1934). This suggests that other taxa originally described from the “classical” Willwerath locality, the type locality of P. diensti, are variants of the latter, and thus Pseudestheria subcircularis Raymond, 1946 and Palaeolimnadiopsis ? eifelensis Raymond, 1946 are synonymized here with P. diensti. A further clam shrimp taxon, for which we propose a new species, Palaeolimnadia stevenbeckeri n. sp., is found in the same stratum, but not in the mass mortality layer itself. The clam shrimp mass mortality is interpreted to reflect sudden destruction of the original habitat on a delta plain and subsequent transport and burial in a marginal marine low-energy setting. http://zoobank.org/0cfcb6a1-3fb7-4a1a-a1a4-609f8b1bc536

Source: Journal of Paleontology

DOI: 10.1017/jpa.2024.82

Authors: Markus J. Poschmann, Thomas A. Hegna, Lea Numberger-Thuy, Ben Thuy

Institution: Musée national d'histoire naturelle Luxembourg

Language: English

Topic: Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils

Subfield: Paleontology

Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Life below water

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,550