The Taphonomy of Echinoids: Skeletal Morphologies, Environmental Factors, and Preservation Pathways
ISBN: 9781108893411
Platform/Publisher: Cambridge Core / Cambridge University Press
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Unlimited; Download: Unlimited

The study of echinoid evolution, diversity, and ecology has always suffered from the fact that they are represented by taxa showing widely differing architectural designs of their multi-plated skeletons, inhabiting a large range of marine paleoenvironments, which result in highly varying taphonomic biases dictating their presence and recognition. This Element addresses the taphonomy of echinoids and includes: a general introduction to the morphological features of echinoids that play a role in their preservation; a review of processes which play an important role in the differential preservation of both regular and irregular echinoids including predation and transport; a summary of taphonomic pathways included in actualistic studies for recent sea urchins and then reconstructed for fossil taxa; and finally, a case study of the variation of echinoid taphonomy across a shelf gradient using the rich Miocene echinoid fauna of Sardinia.


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