The Fezouata Biota (Morocco) is a unique Early Ordovician fossil assemblage. The discovery of this biota revolutionized our understanding of Earth's early animal diversifications-the Cambrian Explosion and the Ordovician Radiation-by suggesting an evolutionary continuum between both events. Herein, we describe Taichoute, a new fossil locality from the Fezouata Shale. This locality extends the temporal distribution of fossil preservation from this formation into the upper Floian, while also expanding the range of depositional environments to more distal parts of the shelf. In Taichoute, most animals were transported by density flows, unlike the in-situ preservation of animals recovered in previously investigated Fezouata sites. Taichoute is dominated by three-dimensionally preserved, and heavily sclerotized fragments of large euarthropods-possibly representing nektobenthic/nektic bivalved taxa and/or hurdiid radiodonts. Resolving whether this dominance reflects a legitimate aspect of the original ecosystem or a preservational bias requires an in-depth assessment of the environmental conditions at this site. Nevertheless, Taichoute provides novel preservational and palaeontological insights during a key evolutionary transition in the history of life on Earth.

Centre for Ecology and Conservation University of Exeter Penryn UK

Czech Academy of Sciences Institute of Geology Rozvojová 269 165 00 Prague 6 Czech Republic

Department of Natural Sciences National Museums Scotland Edinburgh EH1 1JF UK

Independent 7 rue Chardin Maquens 11090 Carcassonne France

Institute of Earth Sciences University of Lausanne Geopolis 1015 Lausanne Switzerland

Instituto de Geociencias Departamento GEODESPAL Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas Spanish Research Council José Antonio Novais 12 28040 Madrid Spain

Laboratoire de Géoressources Géoenvironnement Et Génie Civil 'L3G' Faculté Des Sciences Et Techniques Université Cadi Ayyad BP 549 40000 Marrakesh Morocco

MEC International Joint Laboratory for Palaeobiology and Palaeoenvironment Institute of Palaeontology Yunnan University Kunming China

Museum of Comparative Zoology and Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology Harvard University Cambridge MA 02138 USA

Palaeoecosystems Group Department of Earth Sciences Durham University Durham DH1 3LE UK

Univ Brest CNRS Ifremer Geo Ocean UMR 6538 Place Nicolas Copernic F 29280 Plouzané France

Université Cadi Ayyad École Normale Supérieure Marrakech Morocco

Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 École Normale Supérieure de Lyon CNRS UMR5276 LGL TPE Université de Lyon Villeurbanne France

Yunnan Key Laboratory for Palaeobiology Institute of Palaeontology Yunnan University Kunming China

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Highly resolved taphonomic variations within the Early Ordovician Fezouata Biota

The Cabrières Biota (France) provides insights into Ordovician polar ecosystems