Endemism as a palaeobiogeographic parameter of basin history illustrated by early- and mid-Liassic peri-Tethyan ammonite faunas

Episodes of endemism during Sinemurian–Pliensbachian times are described from synthetic data (publications and unpublished collections) about ammonite faunas of the western reaches of the Tethys. The Lusitanian, Sub-Betic and High Atlas basins receive special attention. The study shows that (1) endemism occurs principally in the Lusitanian and High Atlas basins, which are the most confined palaeogeographic structures; (2) it tends to occur synchronously in different basins but involving different taxa, i.e. it is independent of phylogeny; (3) it is not obviously correlated with relative sea-level at any given time. However, the fact that episodes of endemism coincide with second-order regressive phases suggests some connection between sea-level falls, independently of the sea level, and the development of endemic faunas.