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1 Department of Geology, National Museum of Wales, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NP, UK mike.bassett{at}nmgw.ac.uk
2 Institute of Earth Sciences, Department of Historical Geology and Palaeontology, University of Uppsala Norbyvägen 22, S-75236, Uppsala, Sweden Lars.Holmer{at}pal.uu.se
Brachiopod-dominated palaeocommunities incorporating a structure typical of faunal groups within the Palaeozoic Evolutionary Fauna were already present in North and East Gondwana and associated terranes as early as the mid-Cambrian, confined exclusively to shallow marine, inshore environments. The late Cambrian and Tremadoc record of these faunas is incomplete, because of pronounced global sea-level lowstand and subsequent break-up and destruction of the Cambrian Gondwanan margin. It is likely, however, that those groups later forming the core of the Palaeozoic Evolutionary Fauna evolved originally in shallow-water environments of low-latitude peri-Gondwana, and dispersed widely when favourable ecological conditions developed. Conspicuous sea-level rise through the early to mid-Arenig provided newly available habitats in the expanding epeiric seas, where the new faunas evolved and diversified by the mid-Ordovician, when rapid drift separated the early Palaeozoic continents. Relatively short-lived precursor and transitional brachiopod assemblages can be identified on most of the main palaeocontinents prior to the Ordovician radiation of the Palaeozoic Evolutionary Fauna.
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  A. W. Owen and J. A. Crame Palaeobiogeography and the Ordovician and Mesozoic-Cenozoic biotic radiations Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 2002; 194: 1 - 11. [Abstract] [PDF]
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