Marine benthic invertebrates from the Upper Jurassic of northern Ethiopia and their biogeographic affinities

We present the first modern description of corals, brachiopods and bivalves from the Antalo Limestone in the Mekele Outlier of northern Ethiopia. This fauna is largely of Oxfordian age and lived in shallow subtidal environments and in small patch reefs. In combining our new data with fossil occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, we conducted multidimensional scaling analyses to assess biogeographic patterns and the delineation of the Ethiopian Province for the Callovian to Kimmeridgian stages. Results suggest that an Ethiopian Province is indeed evident for our focal groups, but this is more confined than traditionally assumed. The so defined Ethiopian Province includes Tunisia, the Levant, Arabia and much of East Africa, but excludes Tanzania and India. The special status of India and Tanzania is perhaps due to latitudinal gradients in faunal composition.

Research highlights► First modern description of Jurassic fossils from north Ethiopia. ► Global biogeographic patterns analysed with multidimensional scaling. ► Ethiopian Province confirmed but smaller than usually assumed. ► Climatic and oceanographic gradients control biogeographic patterns