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Shell morphology and suture complexity in Upper Carboniferous ammonoids

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

W. Bruce Saunders  and
David M. Work
W. Bruce Saunders
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania 19010, Department of Geology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242
David M. Work
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania 19010, Department of Geology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242
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Abstract

Principal components analysis of Upper Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) ammonoids (all 117 genera), using 21 variables to measure shell geometry, sculpture and suture complexity, shows that following a sharp decline (∼30%) in generic diversity after the mid-Carboniferous boundary, seven morphotypes persisted throughout the Pennsylvanian (ca. 30 m.y.). Six of these were polyphyletically adopted at different times, while the seventh was monopolized by the prolecanitids, a group whose evolution accelerated during the Pennsylvanian and later gave rise to Mesozoic ammonoids. Innovations in suture geometry distinguished at least 17 of 39 (44%) Pennsylvanian ammonoid families. Average suture complexity increased almost threefold; this was achieved by various methods (lobe serration, insertion of umbilical elements, prong subdivision, lobe trifurcation, and secondary bifurcation), which were recurrent and crossed morphotype boundaries. The Pennsylvanian record supports suggestions that Paleozoic ammonoids were confined to a certain suite of basic shell geometries, showing preference for a limited number of sites in the spectrum of available morphospace. However, these morphic constraints did not, with one possible exception (the prolecanitids), control the emergence of increasing sutural complexity during the Pennsylvanian, which occurred among different lineages in all seven morphotypes.

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Paleobiology , Volume 22 , Issue 2 , Spring 1996 , pp. 189 - 218
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Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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