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Data from: Exceptional preservation and unexpected diversity of radiolarians in the aftermath of the Permian-Triassic mass extinction

Ozsvart, Peter1; Foster, William2

Published Jun 03, 2026 on Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.pzgmsbd39

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Jun 03, 2026 version files 257.37 MB

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Abstract

The Early Triassic is typically described as an interval of poor fossil preservation and low diversity in the aftermath of the Permian–Triassic mass extinction. For radiolarians, very little information is available due to the lack of known radiolarian-yielding locations. Yet, here well-preserved radiolarians, including the oldest (Griesbachian, Early Triassic) occurrence of fossilized central capsule membranes, are described from a shallow marine Permian/Triassic boundary succession at Lusitaniadalen (Svalbard). Eleven species from seven radiolaria genera have been found, including three new species (Entactinia sengeri n. sp., Archaeocenosphaera plankei n. sp. and Thaisphaera ullarinmanae n. sp.) and two new subspecies (Entactinia meishanensis smyraksikorae n. subsp. and Grandetortura nipponica stepheni n. subsp.). Combined with the unexpectedly high diversity of other organisms from the Permian/Triassic boundary in Svalbard this new data further indicates that Svalbard represents either a previously unknown refuge or somewhere with exceptional preservation in the aftermath of the mass extinction event.