List of Early Cenozoic fossil taxa from Antarctica, Western Europe and US Gulf Coast

• Main Authors: Crame, J.Alistair, McGowan, A.J
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre 2022
• Subjects: "EARTH SCIENCE","BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION","ANIMALS/INVERTEBRATES","MOLLUSKS"; Antarctica; Early Cenozoic evolutionary radiation; K/Pg mass extinction; Mollusca; polar-tropical contrast; Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; New Zealand; Alabama; Seymour; Seymour Island; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5285/2cfa78b1-b7a1-411d-89e5-90490482be79; https://data.bas.ac.uk/full-record.php?id=GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/01627

This dataset comprises lists of fossil species from a polar region (Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula) and two tropical regions (Western Europe and US Gulf Coast) during the Early Cenozoic era. The dataset begins in the Late Maastrichtian epoch of the Cretaceous period, extends across the mass extinction event at the Cretaceous/Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary, and terminates in the late Middle Eocene (i.e., a timespan of some 30 Myr from approximately 70 to 40 Ma ago). The lists are based on four of the commonest types of fossil found at the time: two of these are bivalve molluscs and two are gastropod molluscs. Within each group (or taxonomic clade), the fossils are listed by family, starting with the taxonomically most primitive and ending with the most recent (or derived). Both genus and species names are given. The data were collected in various stages between 2009 and 2021. These lists were used to compare patterns of mass extinction across the K/Pg boundary and then subsequent evolutionary radiation of these four groups through the first 25 Myr of the Cenozoic era. Full details of this study are given in: Crame, J.A. & McGowan, A. J. In press. Origin of the tropical-polar biodiversity contrast. Global Ecology and Biogeography. This project was funded partly through NERC grant NE/I005803/1 and partly through BAS/NERC core funds. : The database was compiled from published papers and catalogues, together with reference fossil collections housed in the UK, Europe, USA and New Zealand. Full reference to all these sources are given in the cited paper. The Paleobiology Database (paleobiodb.org) was consulted and proved to be an invaluable source of published references, but no large downloads of raw data were made from it. Antarctic data collected from Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula: 64.28306 S, 56.75 W. This is one of the best exposures of Late Cretaceous - Early Paleogene sedimentary exposures anywhere in the Southern Hemisphere. These rocks are intensely fossiliferous and have been the subject of extensive scientific interest for more than 100 years. Western Europe data based mainly on the Paris Basin, but with some material from both Belgium and western Poland. US Gulf Coast data essentially from eastern Texas to eastern Alabama. Full locality information given in Crame, J.A. & McGowan, A. J. In press. Origin of the tropical- polar biodiversity contrast. Global Ecology and Biogeography. : All species lists were checked carefully for taxonomic uniformity and the classification scheme adopted was taken from the latest references (Crame, J.A. & McGowan, A. J. In press). Doubtful identifications were excluded.