Cambrorhytium
Cambrorhytium is an enigmatic fossil genus known from the Latham shale (California),[2] and the Chengjiang (China) and Burgess Shale (Canadian rockies) lagerstätte[3] 350 specimens of Cambrorhytium are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed, where they comprise 0.7% of the community.[4]
The fossil is conical, with iterated linear markings on its walls, parallel to its base. Its wall is thin, and it lacks the keel that is distinctive of hyoliths.[2]
It has been interpreted as a cnidarian polyp, with the interpretation suggesting that the animal lived in the tube and extended tentacles (of which no trace has been found) from the flat aperture.[5] The other possible, but probably unlikely, affinity is with the hyolith molluscs.[2]
Its name is from the Latin rhytium, drinking horn.[1]
C. elongatum has been described to contain an alimentary canal in a single Chinese specimen.[6]
C. major was originally described as a member of the hyolith genus Orthotheca.[7]
C. fragilis was originally included by Charles D. Walcott in the genus Selkirkia,[8][9] – a taxonomy that was retained by later workers[10][11] until finally questioned[12] and redescribed[1] as Cambrorhytium in the eighties.
Its similarity with the lower cambrian species Torellelloides giganteum may indicate a close relationship.[1]
See also
Cambrorhytium has been compared to the fossil Archotuba[5] and Sphenothallus[13]
External links
References
- ^ a b c d Conway Morris, Simon; Robison, R.A. (1988). "More soft-bodied animals and algae from the Middle Cambrian of Utah and British Columbia.". University of Kansas Paleontological Contributions 122: 1–48. https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/dspace/bitstream/1808/3691/3/paleo.paper.122op.pdf.
- ^ a b c BEN WAGGONER; JAMES W. HAGADORN (2005). "Conical fossils from the Lower Cambrian of Eastern California". Paleobios 25 (1).
- ^ Zhang, X. L.; Hua, H. (2005). "Soft-bodied fossils from the Shipai Formation, Lower Cambrian of the Three Gorge area, South China". Geological Magazine 142: 699. doi:10.1017/S0016756805000518. edit
- ^ Caron, J. -B.; Jackson, D. A. (October 2006). "Taphonomy of the Greater Phyllopod Bed community, Burgess Shale". PALAIOS 21 (5): 451–465. doi:10.2110/palo.2003.P05-070R. edit
- ^ a b Arena, D. A. (2008). "Exceptional Preservation of Plants and Invertebrates by Phosphatization, Riversleigh, Australia". PALAIOS (Society for Sedimentary Geology) 23 (7): 495–502. doi:10.2110/palo.2006.p06-142r. ISSN 0883-1351. edit
- ^ Steiner, M.; Zhu, M.; Zhao, Y.; Erdtmann, B. (2005). "Lower Cambrian Burgess Shale-type fossil associations of South China". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 220: 129. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2003.06.001. edit
- ^ Walcott, C. D. (1908.). "Mount Stephen rocks and fossils". Canadian Alpine Journal 1: 232–248.
- ^ Walcott, C.D. (1911). "Cambrian Geology and Paleontology II, no. 5. Middle Cambrian annelids". Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 57: 109–144.
- ^ Walcott, C.D. (1912). "Cambrian of the Kicking Horse Valley, B.C.". Geological Survey of Canada Report 26: 188.
- ^ Howell, B. F.; Stubblefield, C. J. (2009). "A Revision of the Fauna of the North Welsh Conocoryphe viola Beds implying a Lower Cambrian Age". Geological Magazine 87: 1. doi:10.1017/S0016756800075506. edit
- ^ Conway Morris, S (1977). "Fossil priapulid worms". Special Papers in Palaeontology 20 (4): 1–95.
- ^ Briggs, D.E.G.; S. Conway Morris (1986). "Problematica from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale of British Columbia.". Problematic Fossil Taxa. New York: Oxford University Press.
- ^ Van Iten, H.; Zhu, M. Y.; Collins, D. (2002). "First Report of Sphenothallus Hall, 1847 in the Middle Cambrian". Journal of Paleontology 76 (5): 902–905. doi:10.1666/0022-3360(2002)076<0902:FROSHI>2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0022-3360. JSTOR 1307202. edit