Mollistephaninae and Frebolditinae, new subfamilies of Middle Jurassic stephanoceratid Ammonoidea

Abstract

Two new Bajocian stephanoceratid subfamilies are distinguished based on morpho-structural criteria and phyletic patterns. At the Aalenian/Bajocian transition, Stephanoceratinae of the genus Albarracinites are the source of the earliest species of Mollistephanus and of the new Mollistephaninae lineage that includes three successive genera: Mollistephanus, Paramollistephanus gen. nov. and Phaulostephanus. The Mollistephaninae span across the Mediterranean-Caucasian Subrealm during the lower Bajocian, but Paramollistephanus is pandemic to both the Mediterranean-Caucasian and East Pacific subrealms during the Propinquans Zone. The Frebolditinae evolved from Paramollistephanus in the lower Bajocian, beginning with Freboldites and giving rise to diverse genera such as Parabigotites, Patrulia, Bajocia, Subcollina and Parastrenoceras that occur into the upper Bajocian of both the East Pacific and Mediterranean-Caucasian subrealms. Palaeobiogeographical and phylogenetic data of these two subfamilies support an active Bajocian Central-Atlantic Seaway, the so-called Hispanic Corridor, as a bidirectional, biodispersal route driven by changes of the relative sea level. Several bioevents of appearance, immigration and dispersal, associated with the range expansion of ammonoid taxa, were effective (Paramollistephanus in the latest Laeviuscula Zone, Subcollina in the latest Humphriesianum Zone, and Parastrenoceras in the earliest Niortense Zone). Based on life-history strategy, morpho-structural and functional criteria, the dimorphic Caumontisphinctes-Infraparkinsonia pair seems to be the origin of the Parkinsoniidae. The Mollistephaninae and Frebolditinae show small adult size, scarcity of fossils, and low stratigraphic persistence and constancy; however, they present some pandemic genera of the Tethys-Panthalassa Realm and display high resolution for time correlation between the western Tethyan and eastern Pacific marine basins of separate bioprovinces.