The Arthropod Assemblage of the Upper Devonian Strud locality and its Ecology

Sammanfattning: The Devonian (419-359 million years ago) is the geological period when the terrestrial biota fully established. Early representatives from a terrestrial and continental aquatic biota have previously been reported from the Upper Devonian (Famennian) Strud quarry in Belgium, in the shape of seed-bearing plants and vertebrates (fish and early tetrapods). The palaeoenvironment is interpreted as a floodplain with slow accumulation of sediment in the river channels and adjacent shallow pools, subject to seasonal flooding and desiccation. This thesis presents the upper Famennian Strud ecosystem with representatives from the largest animal phylum – the Arthropoda. Pancrustaceans are dominating the arthropod assemblage by two eumalacostracans (previously described), three groups of branchiopods, and a putative insect, all collected in fine shales likely deposited in the shallow pools. The branchiopods from Strud comprise new members from all three extant clades, i.e. notostracans, anostracans, and spinicaudatan diplostracans. The notostracan Strudops goldenbergi is remarkable for its close resemblance with the extant genus Triops by the overall body plan and telson morphology. A phylogenetic analysis including modern and extinct notostracans and anostracans was performed, where Strudops appears as the earliest undisputed notostracan ever found. In addition, new genera of Anostraca (Haltinnaias serrata) and Spinicaudata (Gesvestheria pernegrei) are described herein. The insect Strudiella devonica consists of a single specimen and is interpreted to have been a nymph due to its minute size and wingless appearance. The chelicerates are represented by one or several species of eurypterids. So far unnamed juvenile eurypterid remains have also been found within the pool strata, and fragments of adult individuals in the coarser river deposits. The branchiopod community displays a unique insight to the ecosystem that these crustaceans inhabited. This is partly because of their co-occurrence, but mainly because they are preserved in close association to draught-resistant encysted eggs, in the same manner as modern day branchiopods do to survive and disperse during periods of drought and freezing. Altogether, the arthropod assemblage offers insight to Late Devonian freshwater ecosystems, and provides further understanding of the evolution of respective groups.