Abstract
The Mesozoic rise of the European freshwater gastropod fauna is still poorly understood. Compared to the well documented Cenozoic history, little is known about the patterns and processes underlying the early diversification preceding their extinction crisis at the K–Pg boundary. We assess what is probably a first pulse of diversification of the Cenozoic-type fauna in the Late Cretaceous along with the potential abiotic and biotic controls for shifts in species diversification. We find strong support that the increase in the speciation rate in the Santonian (~ 85 Myr ago) is linked to a global sea level rise, which caused extensive flooding of continental areas and the formation of vast brackish-water ecosystems. The following decline of the speciation rate coincides with a rise in diversity and reflects increasing interspecific competition. The peak in the speciation rate postdates the Cenomanian–Turonian Thermal Maximum, which probably limited the potential for diversification among freshwater gastropods due to ecological constraints. The peak coincides moreover with the end phase of the Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolution, which sparked the radiation of angiosperms. The expansion and diversification of flowering plants, being an important food source for freshwater gastropods today, could have formed a necessary basis for gastropod diversification.
Highlights
The Mesozoic rise of the European freshwater gastropod fauna is still poorly understood
That study identified a sharp rise in species diversity in the Late Cretaceous (~ 85 Myr ago) following a long interval of low diversity during the early–mid Cretaceous
This increase coincided with a peak in the speciation rate, which rose to about ten times above the normal background rate
Summary
The Mesozoic rise of the European freshwater gastropod fauna is still poorly understood. We assess what is probably a first pulse of diversification of the Cenozoic-type fauna in the Late Cretaceous along with the potential abiotic and biotic controls for shifts in species diversification. That study identified a sharp rise in species diversity in the Late Cretaceous (~ 85 Myr ago) following a long interval of low diversity during the early–mid Cretaceous This increase coincided with a peak in the speciation rate, which rose to about ten times above the normal background rate. We hypothesize that this event represents a first major pulse in the diversification history of Europe’s freshwater fauna, which was abruptly stalled by the K–Pg boundary event. We discuss the findings in the context of Europe’s paleogeographic and paleoclimatic development as well as coeval biotic events in other species groups
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