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The Cabrières Biota is not a Konservat-Lagerstätte

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 8, pages 2172–2174 (2024)Cite this article

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Matters Arising to this article was published on 11 October 2024

The Original Article was published on 09 February 2024

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arising from F. Saleh et al. Nature Ecology & Evolution https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-024-02331-w (2024)

Saleh et al.1 announced the Cabrières Biota as a new exceptionally preserved fossil assemblage (Konservat-Lagerstätte) of Early Ordovician age dominated by sponges and algae. New deposits of this type are needed to better understand Ordovician ecology and biodiversification and the Cabrières assemblage was presented as a major advance in knowledge of Ordovician polar communities1. However, the specimens identified as sponges, algae, a worm, a hemichordate tube and a lobopod (that is, all of the non-arthropod exceptionally preserved taxa) appear to be trace fossils, mostly burrows containing faecal pellets. Thus, the Cabrières fossils do not constitute an exceptionally preserved assemblage and the conclusions relating to polar palaeoecology cannot be supported.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Natural Sciences, Amgueddfa Cymru—National Museum Wales, Cathays Park, Cardiff, UK

    Lucy A. Muir & Joseph P. Botting

  2. Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China

    Joseph P. Botting

Authors
  1. Lucy A. Muir
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  2. Joseph P. Botting
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Contributions

The paper was written by L.A.M. and J.P.B.

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Correspondence to Lucy A. Muir.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Nature Ecology & Evolution thanks Marcelo Carrera and Julien Kimmig for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Muir, L.A., Botting, J.P. The Cabrières Biota is not a Konservat-Lagerstätte. Nat Ecol Evol 8, 2172–2174 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-024-02559-6

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