Detecting spatial ontogenetic niche shifts in complex dendritic ecological networks

A new metoposaurid (Temnospondyli) bonebed from the lower Popo Agie Formation (Carnian, Triassic) and an assessment of skeletal sorting

Metoposaurid-dominated bonebeds are relatively commonplace in Upper Triassic continental deposits with at least ten monodominant, densely-packed bonebeds globally. The biostratinomy of several classic localities in India, North America, and Poland have been explored in detail; however, variability in methods and resultant conclusions point to the need for a more rigorous approach to understanding both the taphonomic and the ecological origins of metoposaurid-dominated bonebeds. Here we present the first monodominant metoposaurid mass mortality assemblage from the Late Triassic Popo Agie Formation and the stratigraphically lowest known record of several fauna from the Popo Agie Fm including the first occurrence of Buettnererpeton bakeri in Wyoming. We employ previously tested binning methods based on perceived hydrodynamic equivalence ("Voorhies groups") to assess pre-burial skeletal sorting. We suggest a simple counting and normalization method that avoids the inherent bias introduced by the interpretation of hydrodynamic equivalence of skeletal elements in taxa that lack actualistic experimental data. In contrast to other North American metoposaurid bonebeds, the sedimentology and skeletal sorting analyses of the Nobby Knob quarry support an autochthonous origin of this assemblage in a fluvio-lacustrine system with relatively little pre-burial sorting. Despite differences in underlying assumptions regarding the dispersal potential of specific skeletal elements, binning methods tend to follow similar trends regardless of framework used to assess different assemblages.