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Larval shell morphology of Inoceramus pictus: all suspicions confirmed

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Abstract

Inoceramids were eurytopic bivalves and have a wide application as biostratigraphic index fossils in the Upper Cretaceous. Their paleoecology, however, is far from being understood. Here the prodissoconch of Inoceramus pictus is described. It was found in an upper Cenomanian shallow water methane-seep deposit in the Tropic Shale, southern Utah, USA. The larval shell consists of a small prodissoconch-1 and a large prodissoconch-2. The shell morphology indicates a planktotrophic larval phase with wide dispersal potential, and which confirms previous hypotheses of inoceramid larval ecology. Comparison with other inoceramid prodissoconchs shows that larval shell morphology cannot generally explain dispersal, and that more factors must have played a role in the distribution of species.

Kurzfassung

Inoceramen waren eurytopische Bivalven und finden eine breite Anwendung als biostratigraphische Indexfossilien in der Oberkreide. Ihre Paläoökologie ist jedoch wenig verstanden. Hier wird der Prodissoconch von Inoceramus pictus beschrieben. Er wurde in einem Flachwasser-Methanseep im Obercenomanium des Tropic Shale, Süd-Utah, USA, gefunden. Er besteht aus einem kleinen Prodissoconch-1 und einem großen Prodissoconch-2. Die Schalenmorphologie deutet auf eine planktotrophe Larvalphase mit großem Verbreitungspotential hin und bestätigt frühere Hypothesen über die Ökologie von Inoceramenlarven. Vergleiche zu anderen Inoceramen-prodissoconchen zeigen, dass die Larvalschalenmorphologie die Ausbreitung nicht allein erklärt, und dass weitere Faktoren eine Rolle für die Verbreitung von Arten eine Rolle gespielt haben müssen.

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Modified after Ifrim et al. (2011)

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Acknowledgements

Sincerest thanks to Steffen Kiel (Stockholm, Sweden), who collected the specimen during fieldwork together with Alan Titus (Kanab, Utah) and Silke Nissen (Hamburg), to Alex Nützel (München) for the SEM images, and to Gerhard Hundertmark (Göttingen) for photography of macrofossils. I also thank Ireneusz Walaszczyk, Nikolaus Malchus, an anonymous reviewer and editor Mike Reich for their constructive comments and suggestions. Financial support by the Landesstiftung Baden-Württemberg (Brigitte-Schlieben-Lange-Programm) is gratefully acknow-ledged.

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  1. Institut für Geowissenschaften, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität, Im Neuenheimer Feld 234, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany

    Christina Ifrim

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Ifrim, C. Larval shell morphology of Inoceramus pictus: all suspicions confirmed. PalZ 91, 327–336 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-017-0357-5

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