Abstract
Detailed studies of the middle Ilerdian (lower Ypresian) blue marls of the Gulf of Languedoc (Corbières, Aude, France), belonging to the north Pyrenean foreland basin, have revealed a more abundant and diverse crinoid fauna than previously documented from the Lower Eocene. Here we describe five species of stalked crinoids in the family Rhizocrinidae (Cherbonniericrinus requiensis n. sp., ?Democrinus elongatus, Globulocrinus amphoraformis n. gen., n. sp., Pseudoconocrinus doncieuxi and P. lavadensis n. sp.), one barnacle-like species in the stalkless family Holopodidae (Holopus plaziati n. sp.) and a single feather star in the family Conometridae (Amphorometra atacica). Several sites have yielded brachials and rhizoids in addition to abundant aboral cups and columnals indicating in situ fossilisation of the dissociated skeletal elements. P. lavadensis n. sp. and ?D. elongatus have been collected only from outcrops located in the upper part of the middle blue marls, while P. doncieuxi predominates, with a wide range of morphological variation, in the lower blue marls. The fossil assemblage at the locality of Réqui near Montlaur differs from the others in the smaller size of most individuals and the presence of H. plaziati n. sp., C. requiensis n. sp., G. amphoraformis n. gen., n. sp., and P. doncieuxi suboblongus n. subsp. This particular association with high juvenile mortality corresponds to an unstable environment with mixed substrates (muddy and rocky). The crinoid fauna of the Corbières appears to be the most diverse of Early Eocene age known to date. With the fauna of the London Clay, a boreal formation of the same age, it shares the presence of the genera Democrinus and Amphorometra in an open-sea environment. A comparison with extant faunas allows the depth of deposition at the Ypresian sites in the Gulf of Languedoc to be estimated between from 100 and 140 meters.
References
Adnet, S., Louppe, V. & Martinez, A. (2010) Shark and rays from the confined Eocene gulf of Corbières (S. France). Review and relationships with the Atlantic fauna. In: 8th Congress of the European Association of Vertebrate Paleontology, Aix-en-Provence. Mésogée, 66, 9.
Améziane, N., Bourseau, J.-P., Heinzeller, T. & Roux, M. (1999) Les genres Cyathidium et Holopus au sein des Cyrtocrinida (Crinoidea: Echinodermata). Journal of Natural History, 33, 139–170.
https://doi.org/10.1080/002229399300335
Améziane, N., Eléaume, M. & Roux, M. (2021) Ontogeny of non-muscular brachial articulations in Balanocrininae (Echinodermata, Crinoidea). Iterative trajectories or phylogenetic significance? Zoomorphology, 140, 47–67.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00435-020-00508-y
Améziane, N. & Roux, M. (1997) Biodiversity and historical biogeography of stalked crinoids (Echinodermata). Biodiversity and Conservation, 6, 1557–1570.
https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018370620870
Berger, G.M., Boyer, F. & Rey, J. (1990) Notice explicative de la feuille de Lézignan-Corbières à 1/50.000. Carte géologique de la France à 1/50.000, 1038. B.R.G.M., Orléans, 70 pp.
Biese, W. & Sieverts-Doreck, H. (1939) Crinoidea caenozoica. In: Quenstedt, W. (Ed.), Fossilium Catalogus, I: Animalia, 80. W. Junk, ‘s Gravenhage, pp. 1–155.
Bousquet, J.C. (1979) Approche paléoécologique de l’Ilerdien de la Montagne d’Alaric (Corbières septentrionnales – Aude). Géologie Méditerranéenne, 6 (2), 369–378.
https://doi.org/10.3406/geolm.1979.1104
Breton, G. & Vizcaïno, D. (1997) Astérides (Echinodermata) de l’Ilerdien moyen (Yprésien) des Corbières (Aude, France). Taxonomie, relations paléobiogéographiques et évolutives. Bulletin de la Société d’Études scientifiques de l’Aude, 9, 11–28.
Carpenter, P.H. (1884) Report upon the Crinoidea collected during the voyage of H.M.S. “Challenger” during the years 1873–1876. Part I, General morphology, with description of the stalked crinoids. Report on the scientific results of the exploring voyage H.M.S. Challenger, Zoology, (11) 32, 1–440.
https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.11805
d’Archiac, A. (1846) Description des fossiles recueillis par M. Thorent dans les couches à Nummulites des environs de Bayonne. Mémoires de la Société géologique de France, 4 (2) 2, 189–217.
d’Orbigny, A. (1837) Mémoire sur une seconde espèce vivante de la famille des Crinoïdes ou Encrines, servant de type au genre nouveau Holope (Holopus). Magazine de Zoologie, (7) 10, 1–8.
David J, Roux M, Messing, C.G. & Ameziane, N. (2006) Revision of the pentacrinid stalked crinoids of the genus Endoxocrinus (Echinodermata, Crinoidea), with a study of environmental control of characters and its consequences for taxonomy. Zootaxa, 1156 (1), 1–50.
https://doi.org/10.11646 /zoota xa.1156.1.1
Doncieux, L. (1911) Catalogue descriptif des fossiles nummulitiques de l’Aude et de l’Hérault. Deuxième partie (Fascicule II). Corbières septentrionales. Annales de l’Université de Lyon, série 1, 30, 1–161.
Donovan, S.K. (1992) SEM study of the living cyrtocrinid Holopus rangii (Echinodermata, Crinoidea) and implications for its functional morphology. Journal of Paleontology, 66 (4), 665–675.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022336000024513
Eagle, M.K. (2009) New comatulid crinoids from the Meyers Pass Limestone Member (Waitakian (Chattian)) of the Pentland Hills and Hurstlea, South Canterbury, NewZealand. Records of the Auckland Museum, 45, 101–129.
Fabiani, R. (1915) Il Paleogene del Veneto. Memorie dell’Istituto di Geologia della Regia Università di Padova, 3, 1–336.
Forbes, E. (1852) Monograph of the Echinodermata of the British Tertiaries. Palaeontographical Society, London, 36 pp.
https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.11714
Frisone, V., Preto, N., Pisera, A., Agnini, C., Giusberti, L., Papazzoni, C.A., De Angeli, A., Beschin, C., Mietto, P., Quaggiotto, E., Monaco, P., Dominici, S., Kiessling, W., Luciani, V., Roux, M. & Bosellini, F.R. (2020) A first glimpse on the taphonomy and sedimentary environment of the Eocene siliceous sponges from Chiampo, Lessini Mts., NE Italy. Bollettino della Società paleontologica Italiana, 59 (3), 299–313.
https://doi.org/10.4435/BSPI.2020.25
Gaemers, P.A.M. (1978) Biostratigraphy, palaeoecology and palaeogeography of the mainly marine Ager Formation (Upper Paleocene–Lower Eocene) in the Tremp Basin, Central–South Pyrenees, Spain. Leidse Geologische Mededelingen, 51, 151–231.
Gély, J.P. & Sztrakos, K. (2000) L’évolution paléogéographique et géodynamique du Bassin aquitain au Paléogène: enregistrement et datation de la tectonique pyrénéenne. Géologie de la France, 2, 31–57.
Gislén, T. (1924) Echinoderm studies. Zoologiska Bidrag fran Uppsala, 9, 1–316.
Gislén, T. (1927) Japanese crinoids. Papers from Dr Th. Mortensen’s Pacific Expedition 1914-16, 37. Videnskabelige Meddelelser fra det Dansk naturhistorisk Forening, 83, 1–69.
Goldfuss, G.A. (1826) Petrefacta Germaniae, divisio secunda. Radiarorum reliquiae. Vol. 1. Arnz & Co, Düsseldorf, pp. 115– 221.
Grimmer, J.C. & Holland, N.D. (1990) The structure of a sessile, stalkless crinoid (Holopus rangii). Acta Zoologica, 71 (2), 61–67.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1463-6395.1990.tb01070.x
Hemery, L.G. (2011) Diversité moléculaire, phylogénie et phylogéographie des Crinoïdes (Echinodermes) dans un environnement extrême: l’océan Austral. Unpubl. PhD thesis, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris, 381 pp.
Hemery, L.G., Roux, M., Améziane, N. & Eléaume, M. (2013) High-resolution crinoid phyletic inter-relationships derived from molecular data. Cahiers de Biologie marine, 54, 511–523.
Hess, H. & Messing, C.G. (2011) Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part T, Echinodermata 2, Revised Crinoidea, Vol. 3. University of Kansas, Paleontological Institute, Lawrence, Kansas, 261 pp.
Jaekel, O. (1894) Entwurf einer Morphogenie und Phylogenie der Crinoiden. Sitzungsberichte der Gesellschaft Naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin, 1894, 101–121.
Jagt, J.W.M., Neumann, C. & Girod, P. (2010) First record of a holopodid crinoid from the Late Campanian white chalk facies of northern Germany. In: Reich, M., Reitner, J., Roden, V., Thuy, B. (Eds.), Echinoderm Research 2010, 7th European Conference on Echinoderms, Abstract volume, Universitätsdrucke, Gottingen, p. 59.
Jagt, J.W.M., Deckers, M.J.M. & Parren, J. (2002) Notes on North Sea Basin Cainozoic echinoderms, Part 1. Miocene comasterid crinoids from central Limburg, the Netherlands. Cainozoic Research, 1 (for 2001), 83–90.
Klikushin, V.G. (1982) Cretaceous and Paleogene Bourgueticrinina (Echinodermata, Crinoidea) of the USSR. Geobios, 15 (6), 811–843.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-6995(82)80034-X
Leturcq, T. (1999) Dynamique récifale à l’Ilerdien: exemple du bassin de Graus-Tremp (Pyrénées, Espagne). Unpubl. PhD thesis, Université P. et M. Curie, Paris, n°: 99 PA06 6303, 2 vol., 376 pp.
Macurda Jr, D.B. & Meyer, D.L. (1974) Feeding posture of modern stalkedcrinoids. Nature, 247, 394–396.
https://doi.org/10.1038/247394a0
Manni, R. (2005) The non-isocrinid crinoids of the Michelotti collection. Bollettino della Società Paleontologica Italiana, 44 (3), 211–218.
Martín-Martín, M., Rey, J., Alcala-Garcia, F.J., Tosquella, J., Deramond, J., Lara-Corona, E., Duranthon, F. & Antoine, P.O. (2001) Tectonic controls on the deposits of a foreland basin: an example from the Eocene Corbières-Minervois basin, France. Basin Research, 13, 419–433.
https://doi.org/10.1046/j.0950-091x.2001.00158.x
McInerney, F.A. & Wing, S.L. (2011) The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum: a perturbation of carbon cycle, climate and biosphere with implications for the future. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Science, 39, 489–516.
https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-earth-040610-133431
Merle, D. & Roux, M. (2018) Stalked crinoids from Gan (Late Ypresian, southwestern France): exceptional stereom preservation, paleoecology and taxonomic affinities. Swiss Journal of Palaeontology, 137, 225–244.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13358-018-0162-0
Meyer, D.L., Messing, C.G. & Macurda Jr, D.B. (1978) Zoogeography of tropical western Atlantic Crinoidea (Echinodermata). Bulletin of Marine Science, 28 (3), 412–441.
Miller, J.S. (1821) A natural history of the Crinoidea or lily-shaped animals, with observations on the genera Asteria, Euryale, Comatula, and Marsupites. C. Frost, Bristol, 150 pp.
https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.11565
Munier-Chalmas, E. (1891) Etude du Tithonique du Crétacé et du Tertiaire du Vicentin. Salvy, Paris, 185 pp.
Oppenheim, P. (1902) Revision der tertiären Echiniden Venetiens und des Trentino, unter Mittheilung neuer Formen. Zeitschrift der deutschen geologischen Gesellschaft, 54, 159–283.
Pacaud, J.-M. (2010) Description des rhyncholites des Nautiles (Mollusca, Cephalopoda) du Paléogène des bassins de Paris et d’Aquitaine et des Corbières (France). Geodiversitas, 32 (1), 121–156.
https://doi.org/10.5252/g2010n1a4
Paschall, O.C. & Waters, J.A. (2016) Estimated predation rate on the stalked bourgueticrinid (Crinoidea) Democrinus from Roatan, Honduras. Geological Journal, 52 (5), 727–732.
https://doi.org/10.1002/gj.2831
Paul, C.R.C. (1992) Amphorometra (Crinoidea, Echinodermata) from the London Clay of Aveley, Essex. Tertiary Research, 13, 117–124.
Perrier, E. (1883) Sur un nouveau Crinoïde fixé, le Democrinus parfaiti, provenant des dragages du «Travailleur». Comptes Rendus de l’Académie des Sciences, Paris, 96, 450–452.
Pirkenseer, C.M., Steurbaut, E., Abels, H.A., King, C. & Speijer, R.P. (2013) An expanded lower Eocene shelf sequence from the eastern Aquitaine Basin, SW France: biostratigraphy, biofacies, and stable carbon and oxygen isotopes. Newsletters on Stratigraphy, 46 (3), 339–361.
https://doi.org/10.1127/0078-0421/2013/0037
Plaziat, J.C. (1964) Pistes d’oiseaux et remaniements synsédimentaires dans le Lutétien du détroit de Carcassonne (Aude). Bulletin de la Société géologique de France, (7) 6, 289–293.
https://doi.org/10.2113/gssgfbull.S7-VI.2.289
Plaziat, J.C. (1981) Late Cretaceous to Late Eocene palaeogeographic evolution of southwest Europe. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 36 (3-4), 263–320.
https://doi.org/10.1016/0031-0182(81)90110-3
Plaziat, J.C. (1984a) Paléobiocénoses et déplacements massifs d’organismes littoraux (Madréporaires, Mollusques, fruits de Nypa, en sédimentation vasosableuse pérideltaïque. Rôle des courants, des tempêtes et des séismes dans l’Ilerdien de Coustouges (Aude, France). Geobios, Mémoire spécial, 8, 301–312.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-6995(84)80185-0
Plaziat, J.C. (1984b) Le domaine pyrénéen de la fin du Crétacé à la fin de l’Eocène. Stratigraphie, paléo-environnements et évolution paléogéographique. Unpubl. PhD thesis, Université Paris-Sud, 1362 pp.
Plaziat, J.C. & Perrin, C. (1992) Multikilometer-sized builds by foraminifera (Solenomeris) from the early Eocene of the Pyrenean domain (S. France, N. Spain). Palaeoecologic relations with coral reefs. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 96 (3–4), 195–231.
https://doi.org/10.1016/0031-0182(92)90103-C
Pourtalès, L.F. de (1874) On a new species of Rhizocrinus from Barbados. Harvard University, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Memoir 4 (8), 27-31.
Pujalte, V., Baceta, J.I., Schmitz, B., Orue-Etxebarria, X., Payros, A., Bernaola, G., Apellaniz, E., Caballero, F., Robador, A., Serra-Kiel, J. & Tosquella, J. (2009). Redefinition of the Ilerdian stage (early Eocene). Geologica Acta, 7 (1–2), 177–194. https://doi.org/10.1344/105.000000268
Rasmussen, H.W. (1972) Lower Tertiary Crinoidea, Asteroidea and Ophiuroidea from northern Europe and Greenland. Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selslab, Biologiske Skrifter, 19 (7), 1–83.
Rouse, G.W., Jermiin, L., Wilson, N.G., Eeckhaut, I., Lanterbecq, D., Oji, T., Young, C.M., Browning, T., Cisternas, P., Helgen, L., Stuckey, M. & Messing, C.G. (2013) Fixed, free and fixed: the fickle phylogeny of extant Crinoidea (Echinoderma) and their Permian-Triassic origin. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 66, 161–181.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2012.09.018
Roux, M. (1977) Les Bourgueticrinina (Crinoidea) recueillis par la «Thalassa» dans le Golfe de Gascogne: anatomie comparée des pédoncules et systématique. Bulletin du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, (3) 426, Zoologie, 296, 25–83.
Roux, M. (1978a) Importance de la variabilité de la forme du calice chez les Bathycrinidae (Echinodermes, Crinoïdes): l’exemple de l’espèce éocène Conocrinus doncieuxi nov. sp. Comptes Rendus de l’Académie des Sciences Paris, D287, 797–800.
Roux, M. (1978b) Ontogenèse, variabilité et évolution morphofonctionnelle du pédoncule et du calice chez les Millericrinida (Echinodermes, Crinoïdes). Géobios, 11 (2), 213–241.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-6995(78)80089-8
Roux, M. (1978c) Les crinoïdes pédonculés (Echinodermes) du genre Conocrinus provenant de l’Eocène des environs de Biarritz. Comptes Rendus de l’Académie des Sciences Paris, D296, 265–268.
Roux, M. (1987) Evolutionary ecology and biogeography of recent stalked crinoids as a model for the fossil record. In: Jangoux, M. & Lawrence, J.M. (eds). Echinoderm Studies, 2. A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam/Brookfield, pp. 1–53.
Roux, M., Cahuzac, B. & Sztrákos, K. (2006) Les paléoenvironnements éocènes à crinoïdes pédonculés des marnes de Miretrain (Angoumé, SW France): interprétations paléobathymétriques. Comptes Rendus Géosciences, 338, 262–271.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crte.2006.01.001
Roux, M., Eléaume, M., Hemery, L.G. & Améziane, N. (2013) When morphology meets molecular data in crinoid phylogeny: a challenge. Cahiers de Biologie Marine, 54, 541–548.
Roux, M., Eléaume, M. & Améziane, N. (2019) A revision of the genus Conocrinus d’Orbigny, 1850 (Echinodermata, Crinoidea, Rhizocrinidae) and its place among extant and fossil crinoids with a xenomorphic stalk. Zootaxa, 4560 (1), 51–84.
https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4560.1.3
Roux, M., Messing, C.G. & Améziane, N. (2002) Artificial keys to the genera of living stalked crinoids (Echinodermata). Bulletin of Marine Science, 70 (3), 799–830.
Roux, M. & Plaziat, J.C. (1978) Inventaire des Crinoïdes et interprétation paléobathymétrique de gisements du Paléogène pyrénéen franco-espagnol. Bulletin de la Société géologique de France, (7) 20 (3), 299–308.
https://doi.org/10.2113/gssgfbull.S7-XX.3.299
Sieverts-Doreck, H. (1951) Cyathidium im Tithon von Mähren? Neues Jarbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie Abhandlungen, 94 (1), 1–4.
Syverson, V.J., Messing, C.G., Stanley, K. & Baumiller, T.K. (2015) Growth, injury, and population dynamics in the extant cyrtocrinid Holopus mikihe (Crinoidea, Echinodermata) near Roatan, Honduras. Bulletin of Marine Science, 91 (1), 47–61.
https://doi.org/10.5343/bms.2014.1061
Szczepanik, P. & Sawlowicz, Z. (2005) Pyritization of microfossils: crinoid remains from the Middle Jurassic of Ogrodzieniec (Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, Poland). In: Tyszka, J., Oliwkiewicz-Miklasiñska, M., Gedl, P. & Kaminski, M.A. (Eds.), Methods and applications in micropalaeontology. Studia Geologica Polonica, 124, 37–52.
Sztrakos, K., Gély, J.P., Blondeau, A. & Müller, C. (1998) L’Eocène du Bassin sud-aquitain: lithostratigraphie et analyse séquentielle. Géologie de la France, 4, 57–105.
Sztrakos, K. & Gély, J.P. (2000) L’évolution paléogéographique et géodynamique du Bassin aquitain au Paléogène: enregistrement et datation de la tectonique pyrénéenne. Géologie de la France, 2, 31–57.
Tunnicliffe, V., Roux, M., Eléaume, M. & Schornagel, D. (2016) The stalked crinoid fauna (Echinodermata) of the Molucca and Celebes seas, Indonesia: taxonomic diversity and observations from remotely operated vehicle imagery. Marine Biodiversity, 46, 365–388.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-015-0369-x
Veitch, M.A. and Baumiller, T.K. (2021) Low predation intensity on the stalked crinoid Democrinus sp. (Echinodermata), in Roatán, Honduras, reveals deep water as likely predation refuge. Bulletin of Marine Science, 97, 22 p. [one line]
https://doi.org/10.5343/bms.2020.0024
Yans, J., Marandat, B., Masure, E, Serra-Kiel, J., Schnyder, J., Storme, J.Y., Marivaux, L., Adnet, S., Vianey-Liaud, M. & Tabuce, R. (2014) Refined bio- (benthic foraminifera, dinoflagellate cysts) and chemostratigraphy (δ13Corg) of the earliest Eocene at Albas-Le Clot (Corbieres, France): implications for mammalian biochronology in southern Europe. Newsletters on Stratigraphy, 47 (3), 331–353.
https://doi.org/10.1127/nos/2014/0050
Zamora, S., Aurell, M., Veitch, M., Saulsbury, J., López-Horgue, M.A., Ferratges, F.A., Arz, J.A. & Baumiller, T.K. (2018) Environmental distribution of post-Palaeozoic crinoids from the Iberian and south-Pyrenean basins, NE Spain. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 63 (4), 779–794.
https://doi.org/10.4202/app.00520.2018
Zittel, K.A. von (1879) Holopidae. In: Handbuch der Palaeontologie, 1876-1880, 1, Palaeozoologie, 1. Oldenburg, München & Liepzig, 765 pp.