First record of eocene bony fishes and crocodyliforms from Canada's Western Arctic.
BACKGROUND: Discovery of Eocene non-marine vertebrates, including crocodylians, turtles, bony fishes, and mammals in Canada's High Arctic was a critical paleontological contribution of the last century because it indicated that this region of the Arctic had been mild, temperate, and ice-free du...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0096079 https://doaj.org/article/9600a35a25e14a839a24d57b2c65792e |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:9600a35a25e14a839a24d57b2c65792e 2023-05-15T14:33:32+02:00 First record of eocene bony fishes and crocodyliforms from Canada's Western Arctic. Jaelyn J Eberle Michael D Gottfried J Howard Hutchison Christopher A Brochu 2014-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0096079 https://doaj.org/article/9600a35a25e14a839a24d57b2c65792e EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4006887?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0096079 https://doaj.org/article/9600a35a25e14a839a24d57b2c65792e PLoS ONE, Vol 9, Iss 5, p e96079 (2014) Medicine R Science Q article 2014 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0096079 2022-12-30T21:32:04Z BACKGROUND: Discovery of Eocene non-marine vertebrates, including crocodylians, turtles, bony fishes, and mammals in Canada's High Arctic was a critical paleontological contribution of the last century because it indicated that this region of the Arctic had been mild, temperate, and ice-free during the early - middle Eocene (∼53-50 Ma), despite being well above the Arctic Circle. To date, these discoveries have been restricted to Canada's easternmost Arctic - Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg Islands (Nunavut). Although temporally correlative strata crop out over 1,000 km west, on Canada's westernmost Arctic Island - Banks Island, Northwest Territories - they have been interpreted as predominantly marine. We document the first Eocene bony fish and crocodyliform fossils from Banks Island. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We describe fossils of bony fishes, including lepisosteid (Atractosteus), esocid (pike), and amiid, and a crocodyliform, from lower - middle Eocene strata of the Cyclic Member, Eureka Sound Formation within Aulavik National Park (∼76°N. paleolat.). Palynology suggests the sediments are late early to middle Eocene in age, and likely spanned the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These fossils extend the geographic range of Eocene Arctic lepisosteids, esocids, amiids, and crocodyliforms west by approximately 40° of longitude or ∼1100 km. The low diversity bony fish fauna, at least at the family level, is essentially identical on Ellesmere and Banks Islands, suggesting a pan-High Arctic bony fish fauna of relatively basal groups around the margin of the Eocene Arctic Ocean. From a paleoclimatic perspective, presence of a crocodyliform, gar and amiid fishes on northern Banks provides further evidence that mild, year-round temperatures extended across the Canadian Arctic during early - middle Eocene time. Additionally, the Banks Island crocodyliform is consistent with the phylogenetic hypothesis of a Paleogene divergence time between the two extant alligatorid lineages Alligator ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Ocean Aulavik National Park Banks Island Eureka Eureka Sound Northwest Territories Nunavut Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Arctic Ocean Nunavut Northwest Territories Eureka ENVELOPE(-85.940,-85.940,79.990,79.990) Heiberg ENVELOPE(13.964,13.964,66.424,66.424) Gar’ ENVELOPE(162.014,162.014,57.140,57.140) Arctic Island ENVELOPE(-74.766,-74.766,62.234,62.234) Eureka Sound ENVELOPE(-84.999,-84.999,79.002,79.002) PLoS ONE 9 5 e96079 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Medicine R Science Q |
spellingShingle |
Medicine R Science Q Jaelyn J Eberle Michael D Gottfried J Howard Hutchison Christopher A Brochu First record of eocene bony fishes and crocodyliforms from Canada's Western Arctic. |
topic_facet |
Medicine R Science Q |
description |
BACKGROUND: Discovery of Eocene non-marine vertebrates, including crocodylians, turtles, bony fishes, and mammals in Canada's High Arctic was a critical paleontological contribution of the last century because it indicated that this region of the Arctic had been mild, temperate, and ice-free during the early - middle Eocene (∼53-50 Ma), despite being well above the Arctic Circle. To date, these discoveries have been restricted to Canada's easternmost Arctic - Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg Islands (Nunavut). Although temporally correlative strata crop out over 1,000 km west, on Canada's westernmost Arctic Island - Banks Island, Northwest Territories - they have been interpreted as predominantly marine. We document the first Eocene bony fish and crocodyliform fossils from Banks Island. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We describe fossils of bony fishes, including lepisosteid (Atractosteus), esocid (pike), and amiid, and a crocodyliform, from lower - middle Eocene strata of the Cyclic Member, Eureka Sound Formation within Aulavik National Park (∼76°N. paleolat.). Palynology suggests the sediments are late early to middle Eocene in age, and likely spanned the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These fossils extend the geographic range of Eocene Arctic lepisosteids, esocids, amiids, and crocodyliforms west by approximately 40° of longitude or ∼1100 km. The low diversity bony fish fauna, at least at the family level, is essentially identical on Ellesmere and Banks Islands, suggesting a pan-High Arctic bony fish fauna of relatively basal groups around the margin of the Eocene Arctic Ocean. From a paleoclimatic perspective, presence of a crocodyliform, gar and amiid fishes on northern Banks provides further evidence that mild, year-round temperatures extended across the Canadian Arctic during early - middle Eocene time. Additionally, the Banks Island crocodyliform is consistent with the phylogenetic hypothesis of a Paleogene divergence time between the two extant alligatorid lineages Alligator ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Jaelyn J Eberle Michael D Gottfried J Howard Hutchison Christopher A Brochu |
author_facet |
Jaelyn J Eberle Michael D Gottfried J Howard Hutchison Christopher A Brochu |
author_sort |
Jaelyn J Eberle |
title |
First record of eocene bony fishes and crocodyliforms from Canada's Western Arctic. |
title_short |
First record of eocene bony fishes and crocodyliforms from Canada's Western Arctic. |
title_full |
First record of eocene bony fishes and crocodyliforms from Canada's Western Arctic. |
title_fullStr |
First record of eocene bony fishes and crocodyliforms from Canada's Western Arctic. |
title_full_unstemmed |
First record of eocene bony fishes and crocodyliforms from Canada's Western Arctic. |
title_sort |
first record of eocene bony fishes and crocodyliforms from canada's western arctic. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0096079 https://doaj.org/article/9600a35a25e14a839a24d57b2c65792e |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-85.940,-85.940,79.990,79.990) ENVELOPE(13.964,13.964,66.424,66.424) ENVELOPE(162.014,162.014,57.140,57.140) ENVELOPE(-74.766,-74.766,62.234,62.234) ENVELOPE(-84.999,-84.999,79.002,79.002) |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Nunavut Northwest Territories Eureka Heiberg Gar’ Arctic Island Eureka Sound |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Nunavut Northwest Territories Eureka Heiberg Gar’ Arctic Island Eureka Sound |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Aulavik National Park Banks Island Eureka Eureka Sound Northwest Territories Nunavut |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Aulavik National Park Banks Island Eureka Eureka Sound Northwest Territories Nunavut |
op_source |
PLoS ONE, Vol 9, Iss 5, p e96079 (2014) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4006887?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0096079 https://doaj.org/article/9600a35a25e14a839a24d57b2c65792e |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0096079 |
container_title |
PLoS ONE |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
e96079 |
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