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A comparison of Barremian–early Aptian vertebrate assemblages from the Jehol Group, north-east China and the Wealden Group, southern Britain: the value of microvertebrate studies in adverse preservational settings

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Abstract

Vertebrates are a highly significant component of the Jehol Biota of northern Hebei, western Liaoning, and southeastern Inner Mongolia. Furthermore, Jehol vertebrate fossils from these areas are remarkable for their abundance and diversity, and for their taphonomy which has resulted in the preservation of large numbers of complete skeletons and of soft tissues including the feathers of birds and nonavian dinosaurs. In contrast, and also for taphonomic reasons, skeletons are extremely rare in the approximately coeval (Barremian–earliest Aptian) Lower Cretaceous Wealden Group of the Isle of Wight, southern England, UK. However, collection of isolated macro-remains over a period of almost 200 years has demonstrated that the Wealden Group, and in particular the Barremian Wessex Formation, contains Europe’s most diverse dinosaur assemblage. This assemblage, until the relatively recent discovery of China’s feathered nonavian dinosaurs and birds, appeared to be of comparable diversity to that of the Jehol Biota. Isolation of microvertebrate remains in an ongoing study commenced in 2002 has demonstrated that not only is the Wealden Group dinosaur assemblage more diverse than apparent from macro-remains and that it includes birds but also that it includes a high diversity of other aquatic, amphibious and terrestrial vertebrates. It is, therefore, now possible to make meaningful comparisons between the Jehol Biota and that of the Wealden Group of the Isle of Wight. Similarities and marked differences are apparent that reflect geographical separation, palaeoenvironmental factors and the remarkably small outcrop area available for the Wealden Group.

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Acknowledgements

I am indebted to Zhou Zhonghe, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthrapology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, for generously sharing data on the Jehol Biota and for providing the list of Jehol taxa presented here. David Martill, University of Portsmouth, UK, is thanked for his helpful review of the submitted manuscript and for providing the opportunity to undertake the study reported here. The University of Portsmouth is thanked for its continued support and the comments of an anonymous referee are also gratefully acknowledged. I am very pleased to have had the opportunity to contribute to a special issue of this journal in honour of Zbyněk Roček recognising his enormous contribution in the field of palaeoherpetology, which includes (with others) a recent review of Jehol anurans. I thank the guest co-editors Jim Gardner, Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology and Tomáš Přikryl, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, for their invitation so to do, and Peter Königshof and Sinje Weber for their further editorial assistance.

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  1. Palaeobiology Research Group, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Portsmouth, Burnaby Building, Burnaby Road, Portsmouth, PO13QL, UK

    Steven C. Sweetman

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Correspondence to Steven C. Sweetman.

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This article is a contribution to the special issue “Contributions in Honour of Zbyněk Roček”

Appendix

Appendix

Table 1 Jehol Biota vertebrates recorded to January 2015 (modified from Zhou and Wang 2010 as advised by Zhou Zhonghe, personal communication April 2015)
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Table 2 Wealden Group vertebrates recorded to January 2015 (data fromvarious sources cited in the text and personal observations regarding recently isolated microvertebrate material)
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Sweetman, S.C. A comparison of Barremian–early Aptian vertebrate assemblages from the Jehol Group, north-east China and the Wealden Group, southern Britain: the value of microvertebrate studies in adverse preservational settings. Palaeobio Palaeoenv 96, 149–167 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12549-015-0217-9

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