Methane seeps on an Early Jurassic dysoxic seafloor

The rhythmically bedded limestone–marl–shale succession of the Blue Lias Formation (Lias Group, Early Jurassic age) of Kilve in Somerset (SW England) preserves a suite of large conical concretions that formed around methane seeps. These are 1–2 m high, and elliptical in plan (axes 2–4 m), with an outer limestone shell forming the flanks of the cone. The cone flank is composed of micritic carbonate (20–30 cm thick), which locally includes sheets and pods of intraclasts and bioclasts. The cycle-forming limestone beds of the host strata are composed of dark grey micrite with carbon-isotope values (δ¹³C = 0.6 to 0.8‰) consistent with carbon sourced from a mixture of seawater and by sulphate reduction, and oxygen-isotope values (δ¹⁸O = − 6‰) suggesting some degree of later diagenesis. The pale grey micrite that forms the sides of the mounds includes three-dimensional ammonites and intraclasts, and thus cemented close to the sediment–water interface prior to compaction. The mound-forming carbonate is markedly isotopically light with respect to carbon, but not with respect to oxygen (δ¹³C = − 24.3 to − 26.4; δ¹⁸O = − 2 to − 3.5‰). The isotope signature indicates that cements were probably derived from a mixture of sources that included biogenic methane. The intraclasts within the limestone suggest that syn-depositional physical brecciation and mixing of cements had occurred, and thus mixing of methane rich-fluids with the overlying surface waters is likely also to have occurred. The relatively heavy oxygen-isotope values may be indicative of anaerobic oxidation of methane. The mound-bearing interval of the Blue Lias Formation is benthos-poor and comprises predominantly laminated black shales, characteristic of poor bottom water oxygenation. The largest of the mounds is however, capped with fossiliferous breccias. Thus the mounds either formed benthic islands that elevated the biota into an oxic zone or, alternatively, they may have supported a chemotrophic community. Although cold seep deposits have been documented previously they are still comparatively rare. This example is one of the oldest in Europe, and is unusual amongst described ancient seeps in preserving relief that extended above the ancient seafloor.     

Revision and re-evaluation of the Early Jurassic dinosaurian ichnogenus Otozoum

Otozoum moodii Hitchcock, 1847 is one of the classic Connecticut Valley ichnotaxa established by Edward Hitchcock between 1836 and 1865. The taxon is redescribed, and AC 4/1a re-established as the holotype specimen. Otozoum minus and O. caudatum are synonymised with O. moodii . The syntypes of Kalosauropus pollex ( nomen nudum ) are described as O. pollex sp. nov. Cladistic, quantitative, and comparative methods of trackmaker identification suggest that Otozoum was made by a prosauropod dinosaur. In quantitative analyses, only those phalanges likely to contribute to footprint morphology were considered; claws were also excluded due to their highly variable styles of impression. Several diagnostic characters distinguish Otozoum from Brachychirotherium , Chirotherium , Batrachopus , Tetrasauropus , and Pseudotetrasauropus ; these ichnotaxa are probably attributable to crurotarsan archosaurs. Otozoum is found primarily in Hettangian strata of the Hartford, Deerfield, and Fundy rift basins of eastern North America; it is also present in the Early Jurassic Navajo Sandstone (Colorado Plateau, USA) and Clarens Formation (Lesotho). The taxon is unknown in older strata; Triassic material previously referred to Otozoum (including O. grandcombensis ) instead belongs in Pseudotetrasauropus . Correlation of sediments and comparison of faunal assemblages, particularly within the Newark Supergroup, suggest that the Otozoum trackmakers were restricted to arid environments.     

Aequiloboidea: A new Early Jurassic ammonite superfamily of the Mediterranean Tethys

A comprehensive outline of the Jurassic ammonoid superfamily Aequiloboidea is here presented: this group is known from? Rhaetian-early Hettangian to early Pliensbachian and it is exclusively found within the Mediterranean Tethys (Austrian Alps, Bavarian Prealps, Tuscany, Umbria-Marche and Abruzzi Apennines, Morocco, Tunisia, western Hungary). On the basis of the available documentation, it is composed by two families (Aequilobidae and Sinuiceratidae), to which five genera belong: Aequilobus Bilotta (previously informally indicated as “genus from Monte Bove”), Dudresnayiceras Rakús, Sinuiceras Venturi and Ferri, and Sphenoacanthites Venturi, Nannarone and Bilotta, plus Xenoloboceras nov. gen., which position at the family level is uncertain. All of them share a peculiar combination of morpho-structural characters, which was never observed in any form referable to known groups. Due to the particularities presented by the Aequiloboidea and to the scarce documentation on the earliest Jurassic in the Mediterranean regions, it is currently impossible to demonstrate that this taxon originated within any of the already-known Jurassic ammonoid orders (Phylloceratida and Psiloceratida). An at least partially independent derivation cannot be excluded, as suggested also by the results of a cladistic analysis.     

New morganucodontans from an Early Jurassic fissure filling in Wales (United Kingdom)

Abstract: Two new genera and species of morganucodontans, Bridetherium dorisae and Paceyodon davidi, are recognized as members of the Morganucodon‐sphenodont fauna preserved in a fissure filling (Pant 4) exposed in Pant Quarry, Vale of Glamorgan, southern Wales. Both taxa are based on isolated molariforms. Mode of occlusion of upper and lower molariforms in B. dorisae differs from the embrasure shearing pattern of Megazostrodon and the offset pattern characteristic of Morganucodon. Lack of a clear correlation between different patterns of occlusion and morphologies of their molariforms supports the working hypothesis that a close correlation between function and morphology of the molars characteristic of therian mammals, for example, was not present in morganucodontans. P. davidi is based on an isolated morganucodontan molariform that is significantly larger than any yet discovered. Several isolated morganucodontan‐like molariforms cannot be referred to these taxa. The new Welsh morganucodontans added to records from other sites indicate the group achieved considerable taxonomic diversity and a near global distribution by the Early Jurassic.     

云南早侏罗世一新具嵴冠兽脚类恐龙

报道了具嵴冠的兽脚类恐龙一新属种,安龙堡双柏龙(Shuangbaisaurus anlongbaoensis gen.et sp.nov.).双柏龙发现于云南省楚雄彝族自治州双柏县下侏罗统冯家河组中,保存了部分头骨带下颌.双柏龙沿两侧眼眶背缘向上有嵴冠发育,这在其他兽脚类中未曾报道过.与其他早侏罗世体型较大且具一对矢状嵴冠的兽脚类(双嵴龙属和中国龙属)相比,双柏龙还独具一些特征组合,如相对较高的前颌骨体、抬高的前颌骨腹缘、后腹向延伸的轭骨后突及较小的上颞孔.比较研究表明,尽管中国“双嵴龙”(“Dilophosaurus”sinensis)可能应归入中国龙属(Sinosaurus),但未必属于模式种.双柏龙的发现将有助于研究基干兽脚类的演化,尤其是各类头骨骨饰在其中的作用.     

Multivariate hierarchical analyses of Early Jurassic Ostracoda assemblages

Palaeobiogeographic patterns of Early Jurassic ostracods from the northern and southern hemispheres (96 sections located in Europe, North Africa, Western Australia and North and South America) based on 243 species-level records document global patterns of distribution that can be compared to those previously published on ostracods from the European Epicontinental Sea and Tethyan and South Panthalassa areas. All described records of ostracods from both hemispheres spanning the Hettangian to Early Toarcian have been compiled and verified, and their patterns of origin and distribution have been interpreted. Jaccard coefficient of similarity was used to asses similarities among European, American and Tethyan ostracod shelf faunas. The numerical analysis shows a progressive longitudinal gradient in provincialism through the Early Jurassic, consistent with the northward drift of Tethyan ostracod faunas towards the European Epicontinental Sea and the southward movement of European taxa into Tethys and Panthalassa oceans. The spread of cosmopolitan species and extinction of endemic species, allied to the disappearance of geographical barriers, warmer climate conditions and rising sea levels can explain the reduction in ostracod diversity and the east-west provincialism throughout the Early Jurassic. Interchange between hemispheres, including bipolar distributions, are recognized from the Sinemurian time, pointing out that for most of the studied period, the climate worldwide was warm and tropical.     

Early Jurassic flora from South Primorye,Far East,Russia

A unique Early Jurassic flora from the Schitukhe Formation of South Primorye, Russia is further studied, with newly collected materials. The flora is composed of over 50 taxa. It is dominated by ferns (Dipteridaceae, Marattiaceae, etc.), cycads (Pterophyllum, Nilssonia, Ctenis, Taeniopteris, etc.), conifers (Cycadocarpidium, Podozamites, etc.), and other seasonally deciduous gymnosperms (Czekanowskiales, Ginkgoales, etc.), showing a special flora living in an ecotone zone between the Palaeofloristic realms of Siberian Flora and Euro-Sinian Flora in the East Asia during the early Early Jurassic. The flora is compared with its coeval floras from China and Japan. A new species Cycadocarpidium pacificum n. sp. is reported. The age of the Schitukhe flora is constrained by the marine mollusca fossils yielded in the sandwich marine beds of the Schitukhe Formation, as the Hettangian–Sinemurian.     

New Early Jurassic brachiopods from the Western Tethys (Eastern Subbetic, Spain) and their systematic and paleobiogeographic affinities

Two new brachiopod genera (Alebusirhynchia and Praesphaeroidothyris), five new species (Alebusirhynchia jorali, Salgirella? goicoecheai, Praesphaeroidothyris cisnerosi, Lychnothyris lancisi, and Cincta peiroi) and a new combination (Securina plicata) have been recorded and established after the internal and external morphological study of populations attributed to Lower Jurassic carbonate successions of the South-Iberian Paleomargin (SE Spain). The analysis made enables us to detail the diagnostic characters of little-known genera such as Lychnothyris or Securina and to clarify the systematics of the group from new supraspecific definitions, establishing a new, strongly multicostate rhynchonellid genus (Alebusirhynchia) and a new smooth terebratulid genus (Praesphaeroidothyris). The palaeobiogeographic signature of these taxa has been analysed, revealing remarkable Mediterranean affinities. Thus, the previously restricted geographical distribution of these faunas can be extended to the westernmost Tethys areas, where the maximum degree of endemism is established for the brachiopod groups in the Subbetic domain around the Sinemurian-Pliensbachian transition.     

Brachiopod faunal exchange through an epioceanic-epicontinental transitional area from the Early Jurassic South Iberian platform system

The La Mola region (eastern External Betic Zone) can be regarded as one of the easternmost complete Jurassic successions of the Betic Cordillera in the Iberian Peninsula, but the paleogeographical setting of their outcrops remains widely discussed. Analysis of brachiopod assemblages from the Lower Jurassic improves the accuracy of previous paleogeographical data, enabling identification of a mainly epioceanic transitional area in which influences of epicontinental habitats are also detected. Assemblage 1, mainly with a Mediterranean affinity but also sharing several constituents with the African and Northeastern Iberian basins, typifies the Sinemurian–Pliensbachian transition. Assemblage 2, as a whole, shows a transitional character between epioceanic and epicontinental habitats; it is subdivided into two successive and interrelated sub-assemblages: Ass. 2a (Demonense–Tenuicostatum Zones) reveals a free connection with the epioceanic Subbetic area, whereas Ass. 2b (Uppermost Pliensbachian–Lower Toarcian) shows a closer relationship with epicontinental environments. Assemblage 3 (Uppermost Spinatum–basal Serpentinum Zones) is commonly recorded in the peri-Iberian epicontinental platform system integrated within the NW-European bioprovince, but it can also be regarded as a marginal assemblage that is widespread in the westernmost Tethyan margin prior to the Early Toarcian extinction event. Assemblage 2 constitutes a suitable index for assessing the paleobiogeographical affinity of the La Mola region, as Ass. 2a is progressively replaced by Ass. 2b, thus triggering the arrival of epicontinental taxa to the more intra-epioceanic Subbetic environments, inferring a possible connection through the La Mola transitional slope. Consequently, this region enabled a faunal mixing and exchange between both environments, and La Mola likely remained as an area that would facilitate migration and an effective dispersal seaway or, at least, did not constitute an ecological filter-barrier for brachiopods. Biostratigraphical data from brachiopods and ammonites are correlated for the first time in La Mola, refining and calibrating biochronostratigraphical gaps in the pre-Domerian deposits where biochronological markers are usually scarce, and around the Pliensbachian–Toarcian boundary, a crucial timespan in which the Early Toarcian extinction event took place.     

Inner-ear structure in Morganucodon, an early Jurassic mammal

The shapes and dimensions of the cochlear cavities from four petrosals of the genus Morganucoden obtained through sectioning and reconstruction. Morganucodon dates from the early Jurassic and represents many of the earliest known mammal specimens. Each Morganucodon petrosal fossil was embedded in Araldite and shaved with an ultramicrotome to expose the internal structure. Line drawings of the exposed cross-sections were digitized and used to produce three-dimensional reconstructions. The reconstructed Monganucodon cochlear cavities differ from extant mammalian cochleas in several respects: they are uncoiled, shorter in length, and lack the bony lamina which supports the basilar membrane. These three features ar characteristic of extant Aves and Reptilia.     

Some Fossil Plants from Early Jurassic in Western Hubei With the Relative Problem Between Fossil Plants and Coal-Bearing

Coniopteris magnifica sp. nov., Ctenophyllum chenyuanense sp. nov., C. laxilobum sp. nov., Mironeura dakengensis Zhou, are derived from the Xiangxi Formation (s.s.), Western Hubei. According to the aspect and characteristic of the Xiangxi flora, author considers the Xiangxi Formation as Early Jurassic in age. In this paper, the relative problem between the coal-bearing and the fossil plants is briefly discussed also.     

Seafloor erosion and sea-level change: Early Jurassic Blue Lias Formation of central England

Minor bedforms within the mudstone-dominated Early Jurassic Hettangian Saltford Shale Member (Liasicus up to Angulata Chronozone) of the Blue Lias Formation in central England, indicate weak seafloor erosion in a mid to outer ramp setting. Distal storm flows below maximum storm wave base are proposed as the most likely generative mechanism for silty scour and gutter casts that enclose concentrations of well-preserved schlotheimiid ammonites and arthropod trace fossils. Within the upper part of the Saltford Shale (probably Angulata Chronozone), a discrete layer of reworked and bioencrusted limestone nodules signifies an episode of more persistent seafloor erosion. The immediately overlying strata, transitional to the Hettangian–Sinemurian Rugby Limestone Member, are relatively bioturbated and feature fossils of macrobenthos, as well as shell concentrations resembling relatively proximal storm beds. This suggests that the reworked nodule horizon marks sea-level fall, rather than stratigraphic condensation associated with sediment starvation. The biostratigraphic evidence raises the possibility that this erosional episode correlates with a mid-Angulata Chronozone hiatus documented from the Wessex Basin, southwest England. Equally however, it could be linked to contemporaneous movement on one or more nearby faults, affecting the southern part of the English East Midlands Shelf.     

A revision of xinjiangchelyid turtles from the Late Jurassic of Sichuan Basin,China

The type specimens of the Jurassic turtles from the Sichuan Basin (China) previously referred to plesiochelyid Plesiochelys are revised, which confirm that they belong to the family Xinjiangchelyidae. The study of a large number of additional shell material shows, as the dominant group, the Xinjiangchelyidae were greatly diversified in the Late Jurassic of the Sichuan Basin. By the absence of mesoplastron and other shell characters, Chengyuchelys baenoides is moved to Xinjiangchelyidae and considered as a valid taxon. Of the xinjiangchelyids from the Late Jurassic of Sichuan Basin, four genera are recognized: Chengyuchelys, Tienfuchelys, Yanduchelys and cf. Protoxinjiangchelys. The phylogenetic analysis results in that Chengyuchelys includes C. baenoides, C. latimarginalis and C. radiplicatus, and Tienfuchelys consists of T. tzuyangensis, T. chungkingensis and T. zigongensis. All xinjiangchelyids from the Sichuan Basin are more primitive than Xinjiangchelys in the plastron sutured to the carapace.     

The morphology and ultrastructure of Jurassic in situ ginkgoalean pollen

A fragmentary pollen organ with four to six microsporangia is discovered from the Middle Jurassic of the Irkutsk coal basin, Siberia. The in situ pollen grains are boat-shaped, monosulcate, and with a nearly psilate surface. The non-aperture ectexine is composed of a thick solid tectum, a thin infratectum, and a thin foot layer. The infratectum includes one row of small rare alveolae. The supposedly poorly preserved endexine is thin and grainy. The ectexine reduces greatly in the aperture area, where only homogeneous ectexinal patches are present over the endexine. The pollen grains under study resemble in their exine ultrastructure pollen grains of the modern Ginkgo biloba and pollen grains from dispersed seeds of a presumably ginkgoalean affinity from the Middle Jurassic of Uzbekistan. This suggests that the ginkgoalean exine ultrastructure of the modern type existed as early as the Middle Jurassic. The exine ultrastructure under study is also similar, though to lesser degree, to that of dispersed pollen grains of a presumed ginkgoalean affinity from the Cretaceous of the Russian Far East. The diversity of such a long-living group as ginkgoaleans is apparently reflected in the diversity of their exine ultrastructure. To the present knowledge, ginkgoalean pollen grains can be differentiated from similar boat-shaped monosulcate pollens by the following co-occurring characters: a thick homogeneous tectum, a thin infratectum with one row of structural elements, a thin foot layer, and an ectexine that is reduced in the aperture region to patches.     

The Early Jurassic palynostratigraphy of the Lusitanian Basin,western Portugal

A comprehensive investigation of the Early Jurassic stratigraphical palynology of the Lusitanian Basin in western Portugal was undertaken, with most emphasis placed on dinoflagellate cysts. A total of 214 samples from an upper Sinemurian to upper Toarcian composite section based on six successions were examined. The Sinemurian material examined was barren of dinoflagellate cysts; however, the Pliensbachian and Toarcian successions are characterised by relatively low diversities where Luehndea spinosa, Mancodinium semitabulatum, Mendicodinium microscabratum, Nannoceratopsis gracilis, Nannoceratopsis senex, and Scriniocassis priscus are relatively common and biostratigraphically significant. Luehndea spinosa dominates the lowermost Toarcian (Dactylioceras polymorphum ammonite Biozone), and is an index species. At the base of the Hildaites levisoni ammonite Biozone, the effects of the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (T-OAE) caused Luehndea spinosa to become extinct. At the same time, dinoflagellate cyst abundance and diversity markedly decreased. After the T-OAE, during the middle and late Toarcian, phytoplankton recovery was prolonged and slow in the Lusitanian Basin. The Luehndea spinosa and Mendicodinium microscabratum dinoflagellate cyst biozones are defined, both of which are subdivided into two dinoflagellate cyst subbiozones.     

Victims of the Early Toarcian anoxic event: the radiation and extinction of Jurassic Koninckinidae (Brachiopoda)

The significant mass extinction attributed to the Early Toarcian anoxic event had a severe impact on the phylum Brachiopoda. Beyond a serious decrease of species diversity, the extinction of the orders Spiriferidina and Athyridida is connected with this episode. The order Athyridida was represented by the family Koninckinidae in the Early Jurassic. The stratigraphical and geographical distribution of the three Early Jurassic koninckinid genera ( Koninckella, Koninckodonta, Amphiclinodonta ) shows a definite radiative pattern. The number of their nominal species increased from 2 to 17 from the Sinemurian to Early Toarcian; in the same time interval, their area increased from the Alpine region to the whole Mediterranean and the NW-European domains. This radiative evolution can be explained as the result of different factors: (1) morphological adaptation to muddy bottoms, (2) fundamental changes in the current pattern in the Tethys/Laurasian Seaway, and, possibly, (3) utilization of methane-based chemosynthesis as alternative food source. The radiation of koninckinids, leading from the cryptic habitats of the Tethyan rocky floors to the extensive muddy bottoms of the open European shelves, was abruptly terminated by the anoxic event in the Early Toarcian Falciferum Zone. The main causes of the extinction might be: (1) the excessive warming of Tethyan deep waters by thermohaline circulation, (2) the anoxic event, which was not survived by the spire-bearers, handicapped by their stiff, calcareous spiralia. Brachiopoda, Early Jurassic, Europe, extinction, Koninckinidae, radiation, Tethys.     

Morphological and structural adaptations to soft substrates in the Early Jurassic monomyarians Lithiotis and Cochlearites

Lithiotis problematica and Cochlearites loppianus are sessile monomyarian bivalves known from the Early Jurassic of the Tethyan region, where they are found standing vertically in the calcareous mud of lagoonal fades. Their shells are characterized by a long cardinal area, ventrally displaced body space, thick attached valve, and a thin, flat free valve of equal length. A functional ligament is present only in juvenile stages of Cochlearites. To grow straight, the ventral end of the shell had to gape, so in both species it was probably the elasticity of the thin free valve that caused the shell to open. In the adult stage the shell grew only towards the venter with an apparently constant growth rate, while the soft body size remained unchanged. The outer shell is composed of a compact aragonitic layer, while the inner part is filled with loose chalky deposits which are thought to have functioned as supporting the soft body and lifting it upwards. These and other morphologic and structural features, as well as the growth pattern, can be explained as an adaptation of a sessile animal to soft muddy bottoms and rapid sedimentation. Some elongated Crassostrea living in similar environments show remarkable morphologic and structural convergence with Lithiotis and Cochlearites.     

Congruence,non‐homology,and the phylogeny of basal turtles

Joyce, W.G. and Sterli J. 2010. Congruence, non‐homology, and the phylogeny of basal turtles.–Acta Zoologica (Stockholm) Modern cladistic analysis is characterized by the assembly of increasingly larger data sets coupled with the use of congruence as the final test of homology. Some critics of this development have recently called for a return to more detailed primary homology analysis while questioning the utility of congruence. This discussion appears to be central to the debate regarding the phylogenetic relationships of basal turtles, as the large data sets developed by us have been criticized recently for utilizing poorly constructed characters and including too many homoplasy‐prone characters. Our analysis of this critique reveals that (1) new information regarding poorly understood taxa has a greater impact on the outcome of turtle phylogenies than the characters under dispute; (2) most current turtle phylogenies differ in taxon sampling, not character sampling, and so it appears illogical to condemn a particular analysis for its character sampling; (3) even evolutionary taxonomists should agree that key characters utilized to resolve basal turtle relationships cannot be thought to be ‘infallible’; (4) whereas various criteria provide positive evidence for homology, only congruence provides positive evidence for non‐homology; and (5) a stalemate between conflicting camps within a congruence frame work is preferable to the ad hoc dismissal of data sets, because authoritative statements are untestable.     

Brachiopod palaeobiogeography in the western Tethys during the Early Jurassic diversity maximum: introduction of a Pontic Province

The biogeography of Pliensbachian (Early Jurassic) brachiopods in western Tethys is investigated using complementary multivariate tools including metric and non-metric ordination, additive cluster and bootstrapped spanning network analyses, as well as one-way analysis of similarity and similarity percentage analysis. All analyses were conducted using the Dice and Simpson similarity indices for presence/absence data on occurrence datasets involving 24 assemblages homogenized at the species level, including (403 taxa) or excluding (210 taxa) species found in only one assemblage. The analyses present a highly consistent biogeographical picture involving three main clusters: the Euro-Boreal, Mediterranean and Pontic biochores. The brachiopod species typical of the newly defined Pontic biochore are illustrated. The three assemblages from the Atlas area are interpreted as a fourth biochore, compositionally intermediate between those of the Euro-Boreal and Mediterranean. The Mediterranean biochore can be further divided into an intra- and a peri-Mediterranean group. These five, palaeogeographically well-constrained biochores show moderate to high degrees of species endemicity, ranging from 20% (Atlas) to 58% (Euro-Boreal). Based on available evidence, and after a reasonable cutback of the customary scale of ranks, the following biogeographical categories and names are suggested for the western Tethyan Pliensbachian brachiopod biochores: Euro-Boreal Province, Mediterranean Province (including an intra-Mediterranean and a peri-Mediterranean Subprovince), Pontic Province and Atlas Subprovince. In addition, a still poorly documented brachiopod biochore occurs on the Gondwana margin as a possible precursor of the extensive Middle to Late Jurassic Ethiopian Province.     

Ammonite diversity and its palaeobiogeographical structure during the early Pliensbachian (Jurassic) in the western Tethys and adjacent areas

The early Pliensbachian (Early Jurassic) is known as a time of marked provincialism in the marine realm, notably between the Mediterranean Tethys and North–West Europe. In order to test this observation quantitatively, we compiled 104 locality-level species lists from those areas based on a comprehensive revision of early Pliensbachian ammonites. With this dataset, we also explore the relationship between ammonite richness and biogeography at the scale of the sub-chronozone during the early Pliensbachian. Using various multivariate statistics and rarefaction techniques, we show that: (i) there is a sharp contrast between the NW European (NWE) and the Mediterranean (MED) provinces, although there is some mixing in Austroalpine and Pontic ammonite faunas; (ii) species richness in the MED province is about twice that in the NWE province for each chronozone; (iii) ammonite species richness tends to decrease during the early Pliensbachian, especially at the Ibex–Davoei transition; and (iv) the NWE and MED sensu stricto provinces both record the same pattern of variations in richness despite the fact that their taxonomic compositions have virtually nothing in common at the species level. We suggest that the low ammonite richness of the Davoei chronozone may be related to a coeval warming of seawaters, but that this was insufficient to affect the sharp palaeobiogeographic contrast between the two provinces. This persistent compartmentalisation probably reflects a major palaeogeographical structure, such as an emerged or near-emerged barrier running from the Betic range to the Briançonnais ridge. Overall, it seems that the diversity and distribution of early Pliensbachian ammonite species were simultaneously controlled by climate, palaeogeography and eustasy.