Saleh, and 15 co-authors, reported in 2022 that the Fezouata Biota (Morocco) is a unique Early Ordovician fossil assemblage. The discovery of this biota revolutionized our understanding of Earth’s early animal diversifications—the Cambrian Explosion and the Ordovician Radiation—by suggesting an evolutionary continuum between both events.
Herein, the authors described the Taichoute site, a new fossil locality from the Fezouata Shale in Morocco. This locality extends the temporal distribution of fossil preservation from this formation into the upper Floian, while also expanding the range of depositional environments to more distal parts of the shelf. In Taichoute, most animals were transported by density flows, unlike the in-situ preservation of animals recovered in previously investigated Fezouata sites.
Taichoute is dominated by three-dimensionally preserved, and heavily sclerotized fragments of large euarthropods—possibly representing nektobenthic/nektic bivalved taxa and/or hurdiid radiodonts. Resolving whether this dominance reflects a legitimate aspect of the original ecosystem or a preservational bias requires an in-depth assessment of the environmental conditions at this site. Nevertheless, Taichoute provides novel preservational and palaeontological insights during a key evolutionary transition in the history of life on Earth.
The public site: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-25000-z#Fig1
Baisas reported that Fezouata Biota is a the name of a unique assembly of fossilized animals from the Early Ordovician period found in this area which includes radiodonts, lobopodians, nektaspidids, and marrellomorphs. The greater Fezouata Shale formation is home to the remains of numerous large “free-swimming” arthropods that dominated the Earth’s seas about 470 million years ago. These are the relatives of present day shrimp, insects, and spiders.
A study published in the journal Scientific Reports describes the early evidence found at the site. While more research is needed to analyze these fragments, the giant arthropods could be up to six and a half feet long, a new meaning to the term jumbo shrimp.
A side-note: World’s Oldest Fossils Show Sulfur-Based Microbes Lived 3.4 Billion Years Ago, Presenting a New Target for Astrobiology (more).
The team says the findings at Taichoute open up new avenues for studying paleontology and ecology.
“Everything is new about this locality—its sedimentology, paleontology, and even the preservation of fossils—further highlighting the importance of the Fezouata Biota in completing our understanding of past life on Earth,” lead author Farid Saleh, a paleontology PhD student at the University of Lausanne and and Yunnan University, said in a statement.
This site and its fossil record are very different from other previously described and studied Fezouata Shale sites, according to the team that represents multiple countries. At the other sites, located about 50 miles away from Taichoute, researchers have found fossils from after the Cambrian Explosion.
The newly discovered site from the Fezouata Shale. Bertrand Lefebvre
“While the giant arthropods we discovered have not yet been fully identified, some may belong to previously described species of the Fezouata Biota, and some will certainly be new species,” Xiaoya Ma, a co-author and palentologist from the University of Exeter and Yunnan University, said in a statement. “Nevertheless, their large size and free-swimming lifestyle suggest they played a unique role in these ecosystems.”
The fossils discovered in this rocks include harder shells and some well-preserved soft body parts such as internal organs. These discoveries help scientists investigate the anatomy of early animal life on Earth and how it has changed over time. The animals here lived in a shallow, stormy, and wavy sea that buried their remains and preserved them in place. However, the free-swimming (or nektonic) animals are actually a relatively minor component overall in the Fezouata Biota.
This new study finds that the Taichoute fossils are preserved in sediments that are a few million years younger than other discoveries from the Zagora area and are dominated by fragments of the giant arthropods. Underwater landslides further delivered the carcasses of these animals to the deeper marine environment.
“Animals such as brachiopods are found attached to some arthropod fragments, indicating that these large carapaces acted as nutrient stores for the seafloor dwelling community once they were dead and lying on the seafloor,” said Allison Daley, a co-author paleontologist the University of Lausanne, in a statement.
Even for seasoned paelentologists, these new species are a surprising find, according to the team.
“The Fezouata Biota keeps surprising us with new unexpected discoveries,” Bertrand Lefebvre, the paper’s the senior author and a palentologist at the University of Lyon, concluded in a statement.
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