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Triassic–Jurassic extinction event
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=== Terrestrial animals === [[File:Mastodonsaurus giganteus.JPG|thumb|[[Capitosauria|Capitosaurs]] (such as this ''[[Mastodonsaurus]]'') were among the major amphibian groups which became extinct at the T–J boundary, though many may have died out earlier.]] Terrestrial fauna was affected by the TJME much more severely than marine fauna.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Cribb |first1=Alison T. |last2=Formoso |first2=Kiersten K. |last3=Woolley |first3=C. Henrik |last4=Beech |first4=James |last5=Brophy |first5=Shannon |last6=Byrne |first6=Paul |last7=Cassady |first7=Victoria C. |last8=Godbold |first8=Amanda L. |last9=Larina |first9=Ekaterina |last10=Maxeiner |first10=Philip-peter |last11=Wu |first11=Yun-Hsin |last12=Corsetti |first12=Frank A. |last13=Bottjer |first13=David J. |date=6 December 2023 |title=Contrasting terrestrial and marine ecospace dynamics after the end-Triassic mass extinction event |journal=[[Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences]] |language=en |volume=290 |issue=2012 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2023.2232 |issn=0962-8452 |pmc=10697803 |pmid=38052241 }}</ref> One of the earliest pieces of evidence for a Late Triassic extinction was a major turnover in terrestrial tetrapods such as amphibians, reptiles, and synapsids. [[Edwin H. Colbert]] drew parallels between the system of extinction and adaptation between the Triassic–Jurassic and Cretaceous–Paleogene boundaries. He recognized how dinosaurs, [[Lepidosauria|lepidosaurs]] ([[lizard]]s and their relatives), and [[Crocodyliformes|crocodyliforms]] ([[crocodilia]]ns and their relatives) filled the niches of more ancient groups of amphibians and reptiles which were extinct by the start of the Jurassic.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Colbert |first=Edwin H. |date=15 September 1958 |title=Tetrapod Extinctions at the End of the Triassic Period |url=https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/44/9/973.full.pdf |journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America]] |volume=44 |issue=9 |pages=973–977 |bibcode=1958PNAS...44..973C |doi=10.1073/pnas.44.9.973 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=528676 |pmid=16590299 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Olsen (1987) estimated that 42% of all terrestrial tetrapods became extinct at the end of the Triassic, based on his studies of faunal changes in the [[Newark Supergroup]] of eastern North America.<ref name=":2" /> In contrast to the end-Cretaceous extinction, the TJME substantially affected freshwater ecosystems, and it further differed from the former in that body size did not affect extinction risk.<ref name="ImpactEventBiologicalProcesses">{{cite book |last1=Buffetaut |first1=Eric |url=https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/b135965 |title=Biological Processes Associated with Impact Events |publisher=Springer |year=2006 |isbn=978-3-540-25736-3 |editor-last1=Cockell |editor-first1=Charles |series=Impact Studies |location=Berlin |pages=245–256 |chapter=Continental Vertebrate Extinctions at the Triassic-Jurassic and Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundaries: a Comparison |doi=10.1007/3-540-25736-5_11 |editor-last2=Gilmour |editor-first2=Iain |editor-last3=Koeberl |editor-first3=Charles |chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/3-540-25736-5_11}}</ref> More modern studies have debated whether the turnover in Triassic tetrapods was abrupt at the end of the Triassic, or instead more gradual.<ref name="TannerLucas" /> During the Triassic, [[amphibian]]s were mainly represented by large, crocodile-like members of the order [[Temnospondyli]]. Although the earliest [[lissamphibia]]ns (modern amphibians like [[frog]]s and [[salamander]]s) did appear during the Triassic, they would become more common in the Jurassic while the temnospondyls diminished in diversity past the Triassic–Jurassic boundary.<ref name=":2" /> Although the decline of temnospondyls did send shockwaves through freshwater ecosystems, it was probably not as abrupt as some authors have suggested. [[Brachyopoidea|Brachyopoids]], for example, survived until the [[Cretaceous]] according to new discoveries in the 1990s. Several temnospondyl groups did become extinct near the end of the Triassic despite earlier abundance, but it is uncertain how close their extinctions were to the end of the Triassic. The last known [[Metoposauridae|metoposaurids]] ("''[[Koskinonodon|Apachesaurus]]''") were from the [[Redonda Formation]], which may have been early [[Rhaetian]] or late [[Norian]]. ''[[Gerrothorax]]'', the last known [[Plagiosauridae|plagiosaurid]], has been found in rocks which are probably (but not certainly) Rhaetian, while a [[Capitosauria|capitosaur]] humerus was found in Rhaetian-age deposits in 2018. Therefore, plagiosaurids and capitosaurs were likely victims of an extinction at the very end of the Triassic, while most other temnospondyls were already extinct.<ref name="KonietzkoMeierEtAl2018">{{Cite journal|last1=Konietzko-Meier|first1=Dorota|last2=Werner|first2=Jennifer D.|last3=Wintrich|first3=Tanja|last4=Martin Sander|first4=P.|date=31 October 2018|title=A large temnospondyl humerus from the Rhaetian (Late Triassic) of Bonenburg (Westphalia, Germany) and its implications for temnospondyl extinction|journal=[[Journal of Iberian Geology]]|volume=45|issue=2|pages=287–300|doi=10.1007/s41513-018-0092-0|s2cid=134049099|issn=1886-7995}}</ref> [[File:Machaeroprosopus IMG 0720.jpg|left|thumb|Reptile extinction at the end of the Triassic is poorly understood, but [[phytosaur]]s (such as this ''[[Redondasaurus]]'') went from abundant to extinct by the end of the Rhaetian.]] Terrestrial reptile faunas were dominated by [[Archosauromorpha|archosauromorphs]] during the Triassic, particularly [[phytosaur]]s and members of [[Pseudosuchia]] (the reptile lineage which leads to modern [[crocodilia]]ns). In the Early Jurassic and onwards, dinosaurs and pterosaurs became the most common land reptiles, while small reptiles were mostly represented by [[Lepidosauromorpha|lepidosauromorphs]] (such as lizards and tuatara relatives). Among pseudosuchians, only small [[Crocodylomorpha|crocodylomorphs]] did not become extinct by the end of the Triassic, with both dominant herbivorous subgroups (such as [[aetosaur]]s) and carnivorous ones ([[Rauisuchidae|rauisuchids]]) having died out.<ref name=":2" /> Phytosaurs, [[drepanosaur]]s, [[Trilophosauridae|trilophosaurids]], [[Tanystropheidae|tanystropheids]], and [[Procolophonidae|procolophonids]], which were other common reptiles in the Late Triassic, had also become extinct by the start of the Jurassic. However, pinpointing the extinction of these different land reptile groups is difficult, as the last stage of the Triassic, the Rhaetian, and the first stage of the Jurassic, the [[Hettangian]], each have few records of large land animals; some paleontologists have considered only phytosaurs and procolophonids to have become extinct at the Triassic–Jurassic boundary, with other groups having become extinct earlier.<ref name="TannerLucas" /> However, it is likely that many other groups survived up until the boundary according to British fissure deposits from the Rhaetian. Aetosaurs, [[Kuehneosauridae|kuehneosaurids]], drepanosaurs, [[Thecodontosauridae|thecodontosaurids]], "saltoposuchids" (like ''[[Terrestrisuchus]]''), trilophosaurids, and various non-[[Crocodylomorpha|crocodylomorph]] pseudosuchians are all examples of Rhaetian reptiles which may have become extinct at the Triassic–Jurassic boundary.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Whiteside|first1=D. I.|last2=Marshall|first2=J. E. A.|date=1 January 2008|title=The age, fauna and palaeoenvironment of the Late Triassic fissure deposits of Tytherington, South Gloucestershire, UK|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242099762|journal=[[Geological Magazine]]|language=en|volume=145|issue=1|pages=105–147|doi=10.1017/S0016756807003925|bibcode=2008GeoM..145..105W|s2cid=129614690|issn=0016-7568}}</ref><ref name="Edgar">{{Cite journal |last1=Patrick |first1=Erin L. |last2=Whiteside |first2=David I. |last3=Benton |first3=Michael J. |year=2019 |title=A new crurotarsan archosaur from the Late Triassic of South Wales |url=https://cpb-eu-w2.wpmucdn.com/blogs.bristol.ac.uk/dist/6/525/files/2019/08/2019Edgar.pdf |journal=[[Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology]] |volume=39 |issue=3 |pages=e1645147 |bibcode=2019JVPal..39E5147P |doi=10.1080/02724634.2019.1645147 |s2cid=202848499 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190830221411/https://cpb-eu-w2.wpmucdn.com/blogs.bristol.ac.uk/dist/6/525/files/2019/08/2019Edgar.pdf |archive-date=30 August 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Tolchard |first1=Frederick |last2=Nesbitt |first2=Sterling J. |last3=Desojo |first3=Julia B. |last4=Viglietti |first4=Pia |last5=Butler |first5=Richard J. |author-link5=Richard J. Butler |last6=Choiniere |first6=Jonah N. |date=2019-12-01 |title='Rauisuchian' material from the lower Elliot Formation of South Africa and Lesotho: Implications for Late Triassic biogeography and biostratigraphy |url=http://pure-oai.bham.ac.uk/ws/files/74379812/Tolchard_et_al._in_press.pdf |journal=[[Journal of African Earth Sciences]] |volume=160 |pages=103610 |bibcode=2019JAfES.16003610T |doi=10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2019.103610 |issn=1464-343X |s2cid=202902771}}</ref> In the TJME's aftermath, dinosaurs experienced a major radiation, filling some of the niches vacated by the victims of the extinction.<ref name="MichaelJamesBenton">{{cite journal |last1=Benton |first1=Michael James |year=1991 |title=What really happened in the late Triassic? |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10292389109380406 |journal=[[Historical Biology]] |volume=5 |issue=2–4 |pages=263–278 |bibcode=1991HBio....5..263B |doi=10.1080/10292389109380406 |access-date=15 December 2022}}</ref> Crocodylomorphs likewise underwent a very rapid and major adaptive radiation.<ref name="ToljagićButler2013">{{cite journal |last1=Toljagić |first1=Olja |last2=Butler |first2=Richard J. |date=23 June 2013 |title=Triassic–Jurassic mass extinction as trigger for the Mesozoic radiation of crocodylomorphs |journal=[[Biology Letters]] |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=1–4 |doi=10.1098/rsbl.2013.0095 |pmc=3645043 |pmid=23536443}}</ref> Surviving non-mammalian synapsid clades similarly played a role in the post-TJME adaptive radiation during the Early Jurassic.<ref name="MichaelJamesBenton" /> Herbivorous insects were minimally affected by the TJME; evidence from the Sichuan Basin shows they were overall able to quickly adapt to the floristic turnover by exploiting newly abundant plants.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Xu |first1=Yuanyuan |last2=Wang |first2=Yongdong |last3=Li |first3=Liqin |last4=Lu |first4=Ning |last5=Zhu |first5=Yanbin |last6=Huang |first6=Zhuanli |last7=McLoughlin |first7=Stephen |date=9 January 2024 |title=Plant-insect interactions across the Triassic–Jurassic boundary in the Sichuan Basin, South China |journal=[[Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution]] |volume=11 |doi=10.3389/fevo.2023.1338865 |doi-access=free |issn=2296-701X }}</ref> Odonates suffered highly selective losses, and their morphospace was heavily restructured as a result.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Deregnaucourt |first1=Isabelle |last2=Bardin |first2=Jérémie |last3=Villier |first3=Loïc |last4=Julliard |first4=Romain |last5=Béthoux |first5=Olivier |date=18 August 2023 |title=Disparification and extinction trade-offs shaped the evolution of Permian to Jurassic Odonata |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/372525075 |journal=[[iScience]] |language=en |volume=26 |issue=8 |pages=107420 |doi=10.1016/j.isci.2023.107420 |pmc=10424082 |pmid=37583549 |access-date=31 October 2024 |via=ResearchGate}}</ref>
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