Puckett, T. M.; Andreu, B. & Colin, J.-P. (2016). The evolution of the Brachycytheride Ostracoda in the context of the breakup of Pangea. Revue de Micropaléontologie. 59(2):97-167.

408202

10.1016/j.revmic.2016.04.001 [view]

Puckett, T. M.; Andreu, B. & Colin, J.-P.

2016

59(2):97-167

Publication

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0035159816300058?casa_token=Zqztg42oo_QAAAAA:fbatOooA3dsEWOwMRXLIMswlLT-9esI4e2Q02GI4dH7pr9NPnMsAK8d24kqfCuSIdHHluNAB

Available for editors   [request]

The ostracode Family Brachycytheridae is one of the most common taxa of Late Cretaceous shallow marine microfossils, and occurs in themarginal basins of Africa, Madagascar, the Middle East, South and North America and the Caribbean region. Their migration pathways werecontrolled largely by the plate tectonic events associated with the breakup of Pangea and the formation of the North and South Atlantic Oceans,the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. This study is an attempt to combine specific information on the plate tectonic events as evidenced bythe timings of continental-scale structural movements, sea level dynamics (largely the product of mantle processes), the creation and destructionof migration pathways, and taxonomy of the group, and thus relate deep-seated Earth processes, surficial expression of these movements, andbiological evolution. Although the Late Cretaceous Brachycytheridae are very widely distributed, their use for correlation has been hampereddue to their conservative external morphology, with all of them having a posteriorly-sloped dorsal margin and a swollen ventrolateral carapace,and all of them were long assigned to a single genus, Brachycythere. In 2002, Puckett defined a new genus, Acuminobrachycythere, based on adistinctive clade of North American brachycytherids. It was also recognized at that time that the members of the family from Gondwana (mainly Africa and South America) were distinct in having a single (unsplit) second adductor muscle scar, whereas all of those from North America had a split second adductor. This tiny difference holds significant paleogeographic — and presumably evolutionary — information. Two new genera are therefore described herein, Sapucariella, which is restricted to Gondwana, and Tricostabrachycythere, which is an early, short-lived genus thatoccurred around the margins of Gondwana. Three new species are described and one is re-described. In all, there are six genera in the Family Brachycytheridae, which include Acuminobrachycythere, Brachycythere, Kaesleria (which is restricted to the Middle East), Opimocythere (which evolved in the Paleogene of North America and is the last of the Brachycytheridae), Sapucariella and Tricostabrachycythere. Taxonomic informationis presented for 85 species, including new images of many of the type specimens. A summary of the breakup of Pangea is also presented, with precise paleogeographic reconstructions based on global magnetic anomalies.

Ostracoda

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