Dendritic microborings in brachiopod shells from the Silurian of the Barrandian area, Czech Republic

 

Authors: Mergl M

Published in: Bulletin of Geosciences, volume 95, issue 3; pages: 319 - 332; Received 9 April 2020; Accepted in revised form 22 July 2020; Online 9 August 2020

Keywords: bioerosion, endobiont, dendrinids, Aeronian, Gorstian, Silurian, Barrandian,

full text (PDF, 6.77 MB)

Export to RIS

 

Abstract

Four types of dendritic microborings preserved as natural casts were observed on the surfaces of brachiopod shells from the Silurian in Central Bohemia: Rhopalondendrina jakubinka isp. nov., ? Clionolithes isp., and an indeterminate dendrinid are of Llandovery (Aeronian) age, Clionolithes amoebae isp. nov. is of Ludlow (Gorstian) age. Rhopalondendrina jakubinka forms a dense plexus of thin rhizoidal tunnels extending from a broad and curved entrance tunnel. ? Clionolithes isp. forms characteristically rarely branching thin meandering tunnels with a globular central node, while C. amoebae forms rosette-like microborings with sinuously curved primary branches and scarce lateral branches of smaller size. Microborings are present both on outer and inner surfaces of shells; their location and number confirm massive infestation of dead shells which were exposed on the sea floor for long time intervals and which were not affected by mechanical abrasion of the shells. This indicates narrow ecological limits for these endobionts, most likely within the deeper euphotic zone.

References

Alexander, R.R. & Scharpf, C.D. 1990. Epizoans on Late Ordovician brachiopods from southeastern Indiana. Historical Biology 4, 179-202.View article

Barrande, J. 1846. Notice préliminaire sur le Systeme Silurien du Centre de la Boheme. 97 pp. Leipzig.View article

Barrande, J. 1848. Ueber die Brachiopoden der silurischen Schichten von Böhmen. II. Teil. Naturwissenschaftliche Abhandlungen 2, W. Haidinger. Wien, 155-256.

Barrande, J. 1852. Systeme Silurien du Centre de la Boheme, Iere Partie, Crustaces, Trilobites. 2 vols. 935 pp. Prague & Paris.View article

Barrande, J. 1879. Systeme silurien du centre de la Boheme. Iére partie. Recherches paléontologiques. Vol. 5. Classe des Mollusques. Ordre des Brachiopodes. 226 pp. Prague & Paris.

Bordeaux, Y.L. & Brett, C.E. 1990. Medium specific associations of epibionts on Middle Devonian brachiopods: implication for paleoecology. Historical Biology 4, 203-220.View article

Boucot, A.J. 1975. Evolution and extinction rate controls. 427 pp. Elsevier.

Brett, C.E.., Boucot, A.J. & Jones, B. 1993. Absolute depths of Silurian benthic assemblages. Lethaia 26, 25-40.View article

Bromley, R.G., Wisshak, M., Glaub, I. & & Botquelen, A. 2007. Ichnotaxonomic review of dendriniform borings attributed to foraminiferans: Semidendrina igen. nov., 518-530. In Miller III, W. (ed.) Trace Fossil: Concepts, Problems, Prospects. Elsevier Science, Amsterdam.View article

Clarke, J.M. 1908. The beginning of dependent life. New York State Museum Bulletin 121, 146-169.

Clarke, J.M. 1921. Organic dependence and disease, their origin and significance. New York State Museum Bulletin 221-222, 1-113.View article

Copper, P. 2004. Silurian (Late Llandovery- Ludlow) atrypid brachiopods from Gotland, Sweden, and the Welsh Borderlands, Great Britain. 215 pp. NRC Researh Press, Ottawa, Ontario.View article

Davies, D.J., Powell, E.N. & Stanton, R.J., jr. 1989. Taphonomic signature as a function of environmental process: Shells and shell beds in a hurricane influenced inlet on the Texas coast. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 72, 317-356.View article

Dufka, P. 1990. Acritarchs of the Monograptus sedgwickii Zone (Želkovice Formation, Llandovery) from Hýskov, Barrandian, Bohemian Massif. Acta Universitatis Carolinae, Geologica 1990(1), 75-104.

Dufka, P. 1992. Lower Silurian Chitinozoans of the Prague Basin (Barrandian, Czechoslovakia). Revue de Micropaléontologie 35(2), 117-126.

Fenton, C.L. & Fenton, M.A. 1932. Boring sponges in the Devonian of Iowa. American Midland Naturalist 13, 42-54.View article

Furlong, C.M. & McRoberts, C.A. 2014. Commensal borings from the Middle Devonian of Central New York: Ecologic and taphonomic review of Clionoides, Clionolithes, and Canaliparva n. ichnogen. Journal of Paleontology 88, 130-144.View article

Golubic, S., Perkins, R.D. & Lukas, K.J. 1975. Boring microorganisms and microborings in carbonate substrate, 229-259. In Frey, R.W. (ed.) The study of trace fossils. Springer-Verlag, Berlin-Heidelberg.View article

Havlíček, V. 1977. Brachiopods of the order Orthida in Czechoslovakia. Rozpravy Ústředního ústavu geologického 44, 1-327.

Havlíček, V. 1980. New Eospiriferinae (Brachiopoda) in Bohemia. Sborník geologických věd, Paleontologie 23, 7-48.

Havlíček, V. 1995. New data on the distribution of brachiopods in the Motol and lowest Kopanina Formations (Wenlock, lower Ludlow, Prague Basin, Bohemia). Věstník Ústředního ústavu geologického 70, 47-63.

Havlíček, V. & Kříž, J. 1973. Svrchní llandover a spodní devon u Hýskova (Barrandien). Věstník Ústředního ústavu geologického 48, 103-107.

Havlíček, V. & Štorch, P. 1990. Silurian brachiopods and benthic communities in the Prague Basin (Czechoslovakia). Rozpravy Ústředního ústavu geologického 48, 1-275.

Hofmann, K. 1996. Die mikro-endolithischen Spirenfossilien der borealen Oberkreide Nordwest-Europas und ihre Faciesbeziehungen. Geologisches Jahrbuch, Serie A 136, 1-151.

Hurst, J.M. 1974. Selective epizoan encrustation of some Silurian brachiopods from Gotland. Palaeontology 17, 423-429.

Jaeger, H. 1991. Neue Standard-Graptolithenzonenfolge nach der “Grossen Krise” and der Wenlock/Ludlow-Grenze (Silurian). Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen 182(3), 303-354.View article

Kesling, R.V., Hoare, R.D. & Sparks, D.K. 1980. Epizoans of the Middle Devonian brachiopod Paraspirifer bownockeri: their relationships to one another and their host. Journal of Paleontology 54, 1141-1154.

Kraft, J. 1982. Dendroid graptolites of Llandoverian age from Hýskov near Beroun (Barrandian). Sborník geologických věd, Paleontologie 25, 83-95.

Kříž, J. 1991. The Silurian of the Prague Basin (Bohemia) - tectonic, eustatic and volcanic controls on facies and faunal development, 179-203. In Bassett, M.G., Lan, P.D. & Edwards, D. (eds) The Murchison Symposium: proceedings of an international conference of the Silurian System. Special Papers Palaeontology 44.

Kříž, J. 1992. Silurian field excursions: Prague Basin (Barrandian), Bohemia. National Museum Wales, Geological Series 13, 1-111.

Kříž, J. 1998. Silurian, 79-101. In Chlupáč, I., Havlíček, V., Kříž, J., Kukal, Z. & Štorch, P. (eds) Palaeozoic of the Barrandian. Czech Geological Survey. Prague.

Lebold, J.G. 2000. Quantitative analysis of epizoans on Silurian stromatoporoids within the Brassfield Formation. Journal of Paleontology 54, 1141-1154.

Lescinsky, H.L., Edinger, E. & Risk, M.J. 2002. Mollusc shell encrustation and bioerosian rates in a modern epeiric sea: taphonomy experiments in the Java Sea, Indonesia. Palaios 17, 171-191.View article

Loydell, D.K. 2012. Graptolite biozone correlation charts. Geological Magazine 149(1), 124-132.View article

Mägdefrau, K. 1937. Lebensspuren fossiler “Bohr”-Organismen. Beiträge zur naturkundlichen Forschung in Südwestdeutschland 2, 54-67.

Mergl, M. 1999. Genus Paterula (Brachiopoda) in Ordovician Silurian sequence of Central Bohemia. Věstník Českého geologického ústavu 74, 347-361.

Mergl, M. 2001. Lingulate brachiopods of the Silurian and Devonian of the Barrandian. Acta Musei Nationalis Pragae, Series B - Historia naturalis 57, 1-49.

Mistiaen, B., Brice, D., Zapalski, M.K. & Loones, C. 2012. Brachiopods and their auloporid epibionts in the Devonian of Boulonnais (France): Comparison with other associations globally, 159-189. In Talent, J.A. (ed.) Earth and Life. Global Biodiversity, Extinction Intervals and Biogeographic Perturbations Through Time.View article

Palmer, T.J. & Fürsich, F.T. 1974. The ecology of a Middle Jurassic hardground and crevice fauna. Palaeontology 17, 507-524.

Quenstedt, F.A. 1849. Petrefaktenkunde Deutschland, 1. Abteilung, 1 Band, Cephalopoden. 551 pp. Ludwig Friedrich Fues, Tübingen.

Richards, P.R. 1974. Ecology of Cornulitidae. Journal of Paleontology 48, 514-523.

Rodland, D.L., Kowalewski, M., Carrol, M. & Simoes, M.G. 2004. Colonization of a “Lost World”: encrustation patterns in modern subtropical brachiopod assemblages. Palaios 19, 381-395.View article

Smrecak, T.A. & Brett, C.E. 2014. Establishing patterns in sclerobiont distribution in a late Ordovician (Cincinnatian) depth gradient: toward a sclerobiofacies model. Palaios 29, 74-85.View article

Šnajdr, M. 1975. New Trilobita from the Llandovery at Hýskov in the Beroun area, Central Bohemia. Věstník Českého geologického ústavu 50, 311-316.

Šnajdr, M. 1978. The Llandoverian trilobites from Hýskov (Barrandian area). Sborník geologických věd, Paleontologie 21, 7-47.

Solle, G. 1938. Die ersten Bohr-Spongien im europäischen Devon und einige andere Spuren. Senckenbergiana Lethaea 20, 154-178.

Sparks, D.K., Hoare, R.D. & Kesling, R.V. 1980. Epizoans on the brachiopod Paraspirifer bownockeri (Stewart) from the Middle Devonian of Ohio. Papers on Paleontology 23, 1-105.

Štorch, P. 2001.Graptolites, stratigraphy and depositional setting of the middle Llandovery (Silurian) volcanocarbonate facies at Hýskov (Barrandian area, Czech Republic). Bulletin of Geosciences 76, 55-62.

Talent, J.A. 1963. The Devonian of the Mitchell and Wentworth Rivers. Geological Survey of Victoria, Memoir 24, 1-118.

Tapanila, L. 2008. The medium is the message: imaging a complex microboring (Pyrodendrina cupra igen. n., isp. n.) from the early Paleozoic of Anticosti Island, Canada, 123-145. In Wisshak, M. & Tapanila, L. (eds) Current Development of Bioerosion. Springer, Heidelberg.View article

Taylor, P.D. & Wilson, M.A. 2003. Palaeoecology and evolution of marine hard substrate communities. Earth-Science Reviews 62, 1-103.View article

Thayer, C.W. 1974. Substrate specificity of Devonian epizoa. Journal of Paleontology 48, 881-894.

Tomašových, A. & Zuschin, M. 2009. Variation in brachiopod preservation along a carbonate shelf-basin transect (Red Sea and Gulf of Aden): environmental sensitivity of taphofacies. Palaios 24, 697-716.View article

Tomašových, A., Fürsich, F.T. & Olszewski, T.D. 2006. Modeling shelliness and alteration in shell beds: variation in hardpart imput and burial rates leads to opposing predictions. Paleobiology 32, 278-298.View article

Tonarová, P., Vodrážková, S., Hints, O., Männik, P., Kubajko, M. & Frýda, J. 2019. Llandovery microfossils and microfacies of the Hýskov section, Prague Basin. Fossil Imprint 75(1), 25-43.View article

Toom, U., Vinn, O. & Hints, O. 2019. Ordovician and Silurian ichnofossils from carbonate facies in Estonia: A collection-based review. Palaeoworld 28, 123-144. View article

Vogel, K. & Brett, C.E. 2009. Record of microendoliths in different facies of the Upper Ordovician in the Cincinnati Arch region USA: The early history of light-related microendolithic zonation. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 281, 1-24.View article

Vogel, K., Golubic, S. & Brett, C.E. 1987. Endolith association and their relation to facies distribution in the Middle Devonian of New York State, USA. Lethaia 20, 263-290.View article

Watkins, R. 1979 Benthic commuity organization in the Ludlow Series of the Welsh Borderland. Bulletin of the British Museum, Natural History 31, 175-280.

Watkins, R. 2000. Silurian reef-dwelling brachiopods and their ecologic implications. Palaios 15, 112-119.View article

Williams, A. 1997. Shell structure, 267-320. In Williams, A., Brunton, C.H.C. & Carlson, S.J. et al. (eds) Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, part H, Brachiopoda, Revised, Volume 2. Geological Society of America Inc. and The University of Kansas, Boulder, Lawrence.

Wisshak, M. 2017. Taming an ichnotaxonomical Pandora?s box: revision of dendritic and rosetted microborings (ichnofamily: Dendrinidae). European Journal of Taxonomy 390, 1-99.View article

Wisshak, M., Titschack, J., Kahl, W. & Girod, P. 2017. Classical and new bioerosion trace fossils in Cretaceous belemnite guards characterised via micro-CT. Fossil Record 20, 173-199.View article

Zhan, R.B. & Vinn, O. 2007. Cornulitid epibionts on brachiopod shells from the Late Ordovician (middle Ashgill) of East China. Estonian Journal of Earth Sciences 56, 101-108.

Ziegler, A.M. 1965. Silurian marine communities and their environmental significance. Nature 207, 270-272.View article

Ziegler, A.M., Cocks, L.R.M. & Bambach, R.K. 1968. The composition and structure of Lower Silurian marine communities. Lethaia 1, 1-27.View article