French Lagerstätte Full of Discosauriscus

A new vertebrate Lagerstätte from the Lower Permian of France (Franchesse, Massif Central): palaeoenvironmental implications for the Bourbon-l'Archambault basin

Authors:

1. J.-Sébastien Steyer (a)

2. Sophie Sanchez (a,b)

3. Pierre J. Debriette (c)

4. Andrea M.F. Valli (d)

5. François Escuille (e)

6. Burkhard Pohl (e)

7. Roger-Paul Dechambre (f)

8. Renaud Vacant (a)

9. Christopher Spence (g)

10. Gaël de Ploëg (h)

Affiliations:

a. UMR 7207 CNRS, Centre de Recherche Paléobiodiversité et Paléoenvironnements, Département Histoire de la Terre, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, CP38, 8 rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France

b. Subdepartment of Animal Evolution and Development, Department of Physiology and Developmental Biology, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18A, 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden

c. Le Champ Bernard, 03210 Gipcy, France

d. 78 Rue du Pont Ginguet, 03000 Moulins-sur-Allier, France

e. Eldonia Society, 9 Avenue des Portes Occitanes, 03800 Gannat, France

f. 13 Boulevard Saint-Marcel, 75013 Paris, France

g. 84 rue Oberkampf, 75011 Paris, France

h. Centre Permanent d'Initiatives pour l'Environnement, Ferme du Châteaux d'Aramont, 1 rue St Pierre, 60410 Verberie, France

Abstract:

A new vertebrate locality from the Lower Permian (Cisuralian) of the Bourbon-l'Archambault basin (Massif Central, France) is reported and its associated flora and fauna preliminarily described. This locality corresponds to a mass mortality assemblage deposited in an aquatic environment. Interestingly, it has yielded hundreds of exceptionally well preserved seymouriamorph specimens, all referred to Discosauriscus austriacus. This exquisite assemblage corresponds to the first seymouriamorph Lagerstätte and the first record of D. austriacus outside the Boskovice basin in Czechia. It enlarges the geographical distribution of the species during the Early Permian, and has new palaeoenvironmental implications regarding the Palaeozoic Bourbon-l'Archambault basin.