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Journal of Paleontology

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Diversity and Distribution of Triassic Bryozoans in the Aftermath of the End-Permian Mass Extinction

¹ Department of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, 3651 Trousdale Parkway, Los Angeles, 90089-0740, <jamet{at}usc.edu>
² Department of Earth Sciences, Indiana University–Purdue University at Indianapolis, 723 W. Michigan Street, Indianapolis, 46202, <jpachut{at}iupui.edu>

Seventy-three species of stenolaemate bryozoans are documented worldwide from the Triassic. Stage-level diversity and paleogeographical analyses reveal that the recovery of bryozoans following the end-Permian mass extinction was delayed until the Middle Triassic. Early Triassic bryozoans faunas, dominated by members of the Order Trepostomida, were depauperate and geographically restricted. Bryozoan diversity increased during the Middle Triassic and diversity peaked in the Carnian (early Late Triassic). High extinction rates throughout the Late Triassic led to the extinction of all stenolaemate orders except the Cyclostomida by the end of the Triassic. Comparisons between global carbonate rock volume, outcrop surface area, and bryozoan diversity indicate that the documented diversity pattern for bryozoans may have been related, in part, to the availability of carbonate environments during the Triassic.