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Storm-induced community dynamics in the Fezouata Biota (Lower Ordovician, Morocco) (2019)
Journal Article
Saleh, F., Candela, Y., Harper, D. A., Polechová, M., Lefebvre, B., & Pittet, B. (2019). Storm-induced community dynamics in the Fezouata Biota (Lower Ordovician, Morocco). PALAIOS, 33(12), 535-541. https://doi.org/10.2110/palo.2018.055

In the Central Anti-Atlas (Morocco), the lower part of the Fezouata Shale has yielded locally abundant remains of soft-bodied to lightly sclerotized taxa, occurring in low diversity assemblages characterized by strong spatial and taxonomic heterogene... Read More about Storm-induced community dynamics in the Fezouata Biota (Lower Ordovician, Morocco).

An extremely brief end Ordovician mass extinction linked to abrupt onset of glaciation (2019)
Journal Article
Ling, M., Zhan, R., Wang, G., Wang, Y., Amelin, Y., Tang, P., …Rong, J. (2019). An extremely brief end Ordovician mass extinction linked to abrupt onset of glaciation. Solid earth sciences, 4(4), 190-198. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sesci.2019.11.001

The end Ordovician mass extinction (EOME) was the second most severe biotic crisis in Phanerozoic, and has been widely linked to a major glaciation. However, robust geochronology of this interval is still lacking. Here we present four successive high... Read More about An extremely brief end Ordovician mass extinction linked to abrupt onset of glaciation.

Early Palaeozoic diversifications and extinctions in the marine biosphere: a continuum of change (2019)
Journal Article
Harper, D. A., Cascales-Miñana, B., & Servais, T. (2020). Early Palaeozoic diversifications and extinctions in the marine biosphere: a continuum of change. Geological Magazine, 157, 5-21. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0016756819001298

A review of biodiversity curves of marine organisms indicates that, despite fluctuations in amplitude (some large), a large-scale, long-term radiation of life took place during the early Palaeozoic Era; it was aggregated by a succession of more discr... Read More about Early Palaeozoic diversifications and extinctions in the marine biosphere: a continuum of change.

A nearshore Hirnantian brachiopod fauna from South China and its ecological significance (2019)
Journal Article
Huang, B., Rong, J., Harper, D. A., & Zhou, H. (2020). A nearshore Hirnantian brachiopod fauna from South China and its ecological significance. Journal of Paleontology, 94(2), 239-254. https://doi.org/10.1017/jpa.2019.90

The brachiopods collected from the Kuanyinchiao Beds (Hirnantian, uppermost Ordovician) in Meitan and Zunyi counties, northern Guizhou, include 13 species and one undetermined taxon, dominated by Hirnantia sagittifera (M'Coy, 1851) (which accounts fo... Read More about A nearshore Hirnantian brachiopod fauna from South China and its ecological significance.

The Anisian (Middle Triassic) brachiopod fauna from Qingyan, Guizhou, south-western China (2019)
Journal Article
Guo, Z., Chen, Z., & Harper, D. A. (2020). The Anisian (Middle Triassic) brachiopod fauna from Qingyan, Guizhou, south-western China. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, 18(8), 647-701. https://doi.org/10.1080/14772019.2019.1682695

Like most of the benthos, brachiopods suffered huge losses in biodiversity during the end-Permian extinction and did not fully recover until the Anisian (Middle Triassic). Anisian brachiopod faunas are thus a key clade characterizing the recovered ma... Read More about The Anisian (Middle Triassic) brachiopod fauna from Qingyan, Guizhou, south-western China.

An extraterrestrial trigger for the mid-Ordovician ice age: Dust from the breakup of the L-chondrite parent body (2019)
Journal Article
Schmitz, B., Farley, K. A., Goderis, S., Heck, P. R., Bergström, S. M., Boschi, S., …Terfelt, F. (2019). An extraterrestrial trigger for the mid-Ordovician ice age: Dust from the breakup of the L-chondrite parent body. Science Advances, 5(9), Article eaax4184. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aax4184

The breakup of the L-chondrite parent body in the asteroid belt 466 million years (Ma) ago still delivers almost a third of all meteorites falling on Earth. Our new extraterrestrial chromite and 3He data for Ordovician sediments show that the breakup... Read More about An extraterrestrial trigger for the mid-Ordovician ice age: Dust from the breakup of the L-chondrite parent body.

Revisiting the Great Ordovician Diversification of land plants: Recent data and perspectives (2019)
Journal Article
Servais, T., Cascales-Miñana, B., Cleal, C. J., Gerrienne, P., Harper, D. A., & Neumann, M. (2019). Revisiting the Great Ordovician Diversification of land plants: Recent data and perspectives. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 534, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2019.109280

Recent molecular clock data suggest with high probability a Cambrian origin of Embryophyta (also called land plants), indicating that their terrestrialization most probably started about 500 Ma. The fossil record of the ‘Cambrian Explosion’ was limit... Read More about Revisiting the Great Ordovician Diversification of land plants: Recent data and perspectives.

The Sirius Passet Lagerstätte of North Greenland: a remote window on the Cambrian Explosion (2019)
Journal Article
Harper, D., Hammarlund, E., Topper, T., Nielsen, A., Rasmussen, J., T-y.s., P., & Smith, M. (2019). The Sirius Passet Lagerstätte of North Greenland: a remote window on the Cambrian Explosion. Journal of the Geological Society, 176(6), 1023-1037. https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2019-043

The lower Cambrian Lagerstätte of Sirius Passet, Nansen Land, North Greenland, is one of the oldest of the Phanerozoic, exceptionally preserved biotas. The Lagerstätte evidences the escalation of numbers of new body plans and life modes that formed t... Read More about The Sirius Passet Lagerstätte of North Greenland: a remote window on the Cambrian Explosion.

The latest Ordovician Hirnantia brachiopod fauna of Myanmar: Significance of new data from the Mandalay Region (2019)
Journal Article
Rong, J., Aung, K. P., Zhan, R., Huang, B., Harper, D. A., Chen, D., …Zhang, X. (2020). The latest Ordovician Hirnantia brachiopod fauna of Myanmar: Significance of new data from the Mandalay Region. Palaeoworld, 29(1), 1-30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palwor.2019.07.002

A new, latest Ordovician brachiopod fauna is systematically described from the Hwe Mawng Purple Shale Member (Hirnantian) of the Naungkangyi Group of the Pa-thin area, Mandalay Region, Myanmar, revealing one of the most diverse representatives of the... Read More about The latest Ordovician Hirnantia brachiopod fauna of Myanmar: Significance of new data from the Mandalay Region.

The giants of the phylum Brachiopoda: a matter of diet? (2019)
Journal Article
Angiolini, L., Crippa, G., Azmy, K., Capitani, G., Confalonieri, G., Della Porta, G., …Stephenson, M. H. (2019). The giants of the phylum Brachiopoda: a matter of diet?. Palaeontology, 62(6), 889-917. https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12433

The species of the brachiopod Gigantoproductus are giants within the Palaeozoic sedentary benthos. This presents a dilemma as living brachiopods have low‐energy lifestyles. Although brachiopod metabolic rates were probably higher during the Palaeozoi... Read More about The giants of the phylum Brachiopoda: a matter of diet?.

A latest Ordovician Hirnantia brachiopod fauna from western Yunnan, Southwest China and its paleobiogeographic significance (2019)
Journal Article
Huang, B., Zhou, H., Harper, D. A., Zhan, R., Zhang, X., Chen, D., & Rong, J. (2020). A latest Ordovician Hirnantia brachiopod fauna from western Yunnan, Southwest China and its paleobiogeographic significance. Palaeoworld, 29(1), 31-46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palwor.2019.03.002

A new, high-diversity, latest Ordovician brachiopod fauna of nearly 800 brachiopod specimens was collected from the Wanyaoshu Formation (Hirnantian) in the Shaodihe section, Mangshi City, western Yunnan, Southwest China. Altogether 22 genera and two... Read More about A latest Ordovician Hirnantia brachiopod fauna from western Yunnan, Southwest China and its paleobiogeographic significance.

A new Cathaysiorthis (Brachiopoda) fauna from the lower Llandovery of eastern Qinling, China (2019)
Journal Article
Huang, B., Harper, D. A., Zhou, H., Zhan, R., Wang, Y., Tang, P., …Rong, J. (2019). A new Cathaysiorthis (Brachiopoda) fauna from the lower Llandovery of eastern Qinling, China. Papers in Palaeontology, 5(3), 537-557. https://doi.org/10.1002/spp2.1253

Following the end Ordovician mass extinction, brachiopod faunas were commonly of low diversity, generally rare in abundance, and restricted to shallow‐water environments in many places. The Cathaysiorthis fauna, first described from South East China,... Read More about A new Cathaysiorthis (Brachiopoda) fauna from the lower Llandovery of eastern Qinling, China.

The Furongian (late Cambrian) Biodiversity Gap: Real or apparent? (2019)
Journal Article
Harper, D. A., Topper, T. P., Cascales-Miñana, B., Servais, T., Zhang, Y., & Ahlberg, P. (2019). The Furongian (late Cambrian) Biodiversity Gap: Real or apparent?. Palaeoworld, 28(1-2), 4-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palwor.2019.01.007

Two major, extended diversifications punctuated the evolution of marine life during the Early Palaeozoic. The interregnum, however, between the Cambrian Explosion and the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event, is exemplified by the Furongian Gap... Read More about The Furongian (late Cambrian) Biodiversity Gap: Real or apparent?.