Soft-bodied fossils from the Shipai Formation, Lower Cambrian of the Three Gorge area, South China

Mudstones and shales in the Lower Cambrian Shipai Formation in the Three Gorge area, Hubei, China, are richly fossiliferous, containing common shelly fossils and some soft-bodied fossils. The latter provide important new information about the nature and variety of Cambrian soft-bodied organisms. Identifiable, non-mineralized taxa include components of the Chengjiang fauna, such as Vetulicola Hou, 1987, a palaeoscolecidan referable to Maotianshania Sun & Hou, 1987, and a brachiopod Diandongiapista with pedicle preserved (not illustrated). Cambrorhytium Conway Morris & Robison, 1988, co-occurring both in the Burgess Shale and the Chengjiang Lagerstätte, was also recovered. Additionally, a new worm is described based on two specimens. This taxon, in common with many other fossil worms, has a slender, cylindrical body with annulations, but it is characterized by each annulus bearing an elevated ridge and lacking surface ornamentation. The occurrence of exceptional preservation in the Shipai Formation has likely been overlooked due to the relatively poor resolution of soft-bodied fossils; nevertheless, this occurrence is an important extension of the Burgess Shale-type biotas in China, over 1500 km northeast of the provenance of the Chengjiang Lagerstätte.

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The Souss lagerstätte of the Anti-Atlas, Morocco: discovery of the first Cambrian fossil lagerstätte from Africa

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-82546-0 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Gerd Geyer ◽

Ed Landing

Keyword(s):

South China ◽

Lower Cambrian ◽

Northern Slope ◽

Sea Floor ◽

Upper Cambrian ◽

Exceptional Preservation ◽

West Gondwana ◽

Regional Correlation ◽

Animal Remains ◽

Stratigraphic Interval

AbstractEpisodic low oxygenated conditions on the sea-floor are likely responsible for exceptional preservation of animal remains in the upper Amouslek Formation (lower Cambrian, Stage 3) on the northern slope of the western Anti-Atlas, Morocco. This stratigraphic interval has yielded trilobite, brachiopod, and hyolith fossils with preserved soft parts, including some of the oldest known trilobite guts. The “Souss fossil lagerstätte” (newly proposed designation) represents the first Cambrian fossil lagerstätte in Cambrian strata known from Africa and is one of the oldest trilobite-bearing fossil lagerstätten on Earth. Inter-regional correlation of the Souss fossil lagerstätte in West Gondwana suggests its development during an interval of high eustatic levels recorded by dark shales that occur in informal upper Cambrian Series 2 in Siberia, South China, and East Gondwana.

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Reproductive strategy of the bradoriid arthropod Kunmingella douvillei from the Lower Cambrian Chengjiang Lagerstätte, South China

Gondwana Research ◽

10.1016/j.gr.2013.03.011 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 25 (3) ◽

pp. 983-990 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

Yanhong Duan ◽

Jian Han ◽

Dongjing Fu ◽

Xingliang Zhang ◽

Xiaoguang Yang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

South China ◽

Reproductive Strategy ◽

Lower Cambrian ◽

Chengjiang Lagerstätte

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A new arthropod Pygmaclypeatus daziensis from the Early Cambrian Chengjiang Lagerstätte, South China

Journal of Paleontology ◽

10.1017/s0022336000033151 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 74 (5) ◽

pp. 979-982 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Xingliang Zhang ◽

Jian Han ◽

Degan Shu

Keyword(s):

South China ◽

Fossil Record ◽

South Australia ◽

Early Cambrian ◽

Burgess Shale ◽

Closely Related Species ◽

Stratigraphic Position ◽

Chengjiang Lagerstätte ◽

Early Metazoan ◽

North Greenland

The early Cambrian Chengjiang Lagerstatte, generally regarded as late Atdabanian (Qian and Bengtson, 1989; Bengtson et al., 1990), has become celebrated for perhaps the earliest biota of soft-bodied organisms known from the fossil record and has proven to be critical to our understanding of early metazoan evolution. The Sirius Passet fauna from Peary Land, North Greenland, another important repository of soft-bodied and poorly sclerotized fossils, was also claimed as Early Cambrian (Conway Morris et al., 1987; Budd, 1995). The exact stratigraphic position of the Sirius Passet fauna (Buen Formation) is still uncertain, although the possibility of late Atdabanian age was proposed (Vidal and Peel, 1993). Recent work dates it in the “Nevadella” Biozone (Budd and Peel, 1998). It therefore appears to be simultaneous with or perhaps slightly younger than Chengjiang Lagerstatte, Eoredlichia Biozone (Zhuravlev, 1995). The Emu Bay Shale of Kangaroo Island, South Australia, has long been famous as a source of magnificent specimens of the trilobites Redlichia takooensis and Hsunaspis bilobata. It is additionally important as the only site in Australia so far to yield a Burgess-Shale-type biota (Glaessner, 1979; Nedin, 1992). The Emu Bay Shale was considered late Early Cambrian in age (Daily, 1956; Öpik, 1975). But Zhang et al.(1980) reassessed its age based on data from the Chinese Early Cambrian. The occurrence of Redlichia takooensis and closely related species of Hsunaspis indicates an equivalence to the Tsanglangpuian in the Chinese sequence, and the contemporary South Australia fauna correlate with the Botomian of Siberia (Bengtson et al., 1990). Thus the Emu Bay Shale is younger than the upper Atdabanian Chengjiang Lagerstatte, Chiungchussuian.

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Macroscopic carbonaceous compressions in a terminal Proterozoic shale: A systematic reassessment of the Miaohe biota, south China

Journal of Paleontology ◽

10.1017/s0022336000041743 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 76 (2) ◽

pp. 347-376 ◽

Cited By ~ 129

Author(s):

Shuhai Xiao ◽

Xunlai Yuan ◽

Michael Steiner ◽

Andrew H. Knoll

Keyword(s):

Green Algae ◽

South China ◽

Brown Algae ◽

Body Plan ◽

Early Cambrian ◽

Burgess Shale ◽

New Materials ◽

Exceptional Preservation ◽

Animal Remains ◽

Late Neoproterozoic

Carbonaceous compression fossils in shales of the uppermost Doushantuo Formation (ca. 555-590 Ma) at Miaohe in the Yangtze Gorges area provide a rare Burgess-Shale-type taphonomic window on terminal Proterozoic biology. More than 100 macrofossil species have been described from Miaohe shales, but in an examination of published and new materials, we recognize only about twenty distinct taxa, including Aggregatosphaera miaoheensis new gen. and sp. Most of these fossils can be interpreted unambiguously as colonial prokaryotes or multicellular algae. Phylogenetically derived coenocytic green algae appear to be present, as do regularly bifurcating thalli comparable to red and brown algae. At least five species have been interpreted as metazoans by previous workers. Of these, Protoconites minor and Calyptrina striata most closely resemble animal remains; either or both could be the organic sheaths of cnidarian scyphopolyps, although an algal origin cannot be ruled out for P. minor. Despite exceptional preservation, the Miaohe assemblage contains no macroscopic fossils that can be interpreted with confidence as bilaterian animals. In combination with other late Neoproterozoic and Early Cambrian body fossils and trace fossils, the Doushantuo assemblage supports the view that body-plan diversification within bilaterian phyla was largely a Cambrian event.

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Malongitubus: a possible pterobranch hemichordate from the early Cambrian of South China

Journal of Paleontology ◽

10.1017/jpa.2017.134 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 92 (1) ◽

pp. 26-32 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Shixue Hu ◽

Bernd-D. Erdtmann ◽

Michael Steiner ◽

Yuandong Zhang ◽

Fangchen Zhao ◽

...

Keyword(s):

South China ◽

Organic Material ◽

Early Cambrian ◽

Burgess Shale ◽

Shallow Marine ◽

Marine Communities ◽

Mass Occurrence ◽

Branching Points ◽

New Material ◽

Chengjiang Lagerstätte

AbstractMalongitubus kuangshanensis Hu, 2005 from the early Cambrian Chengjiang Lagerstätte of China is redescribed as a pterobranch and provides the best evidence to demonstrate that hemichordates were present as early as Cambrian Stage 3. Interpretation of this taxon as a hemichordate is based on the morphology of the branched colony and the presence of resistant inner threads consistent with the remains of an internal stolon system. The presence of fusellar rings in the colonial tubes cannot be unambiguously proven for Malongitubus, probably due to early decay and later diagenetic replacement of the thin organic material of the tubarium, although weak annulations are still discernible in parts of the tubes. The description of M. kuangshanensis is revised according to new observations of previously reported specimens and recently collected additional new material. Malongitubus appears similar in most features to Dalyia racemata Walcott, 1919 from the Cambrian Stage 5 Burgess Shale, but can be distinguished by the existence of disc-like thickenings at the bases of tubarium branching points in the latter species. Both species occur in rare mass-occurrence layers with preserved fragmentary individuals of different decay stages, with stolon remains preserved as the most durable structures. Benthic pterobranchs may have occurred in some early Cambrian shallow marine communities in dense accumulations and provided firm substrates and shelter for other benthic metazoans as secondary tierers.

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A redescription of a rare chordate, Metaspriggina Walcotti Simonetta and Insom, from the Burgess Shale (Middle Cambrian), British Columbia, Canada

Journal of Paleontology ◽

10.1666/06-130.1 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 82 (2) ◽

pp. 424-430 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Simon Conway Morris

Keyword(s):

Fossil Record ◽

Early History ◽

Fish Scales ◽

Burgess Shale ◽

Middle Cambrian ◽

New Information ◽

History Of ◽

The One ◽

Modes Of Life ◽

Chengjiang Lagerstätte

Until Recently, our understanding of the earliest history of the fish has been fragmentary in terms of the fossil record and conjectural with respect to many details of phylogeny. Fortunately, significant new information has become available in recent years, most notably from the discoveries of at least three taxa of agnathan fish from the Lower Cambrian Chengjiang Lagerstätte of Yunnan, China (Shu et al., 1999, 2003; Shu, 2003; see also Hou et al., 2002; Hou et al., 2004, p. 192-193; Zhang and Hou, 2004). Two of the taxa (Haikouichthys and Zhangjianichthys) are represented by numerous specimens, but it is noteworthy that amongst the forty-odd Burgess Shale-type occurrences apart from the Chengjiang Lagerstätte, chordates (or indeed cephalochordates and urochordates) are otherwise unknown. The one exception is the Burgess Shale itself, characterized by the rather enigmatic Pikaia gracilens (Conway Morris, 1982, 1998) and the much rarer chordate described herein. Apart from this exceptionally preserved material, the fossil record effectively only begins in the Ordovician (e.g., Sansom et al., 2001, 2005; Sansom and Smith, 2005), in as much putative fish scales from the latest Cambrian (Young et al., 1996) may be better interpreted as arthropodan (see Smith et al., 2001, p. 78). The difficulties of interpreting what is overall an extremely patchy record are further compounded by the fact that the relevance to this early history of the extant agnathan hagfish and lamprey has remained (and indeed to some extent remains) problematic, given the uncertainty as to which of the presumed archaic features have been overprinted by specializations for modes of life that might have had little counterpart in the ancestral forms.

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Cambrian Lagerstätten: their distribution and significance

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.1985.0138 ◽

1985 ◽

Vol 311 (1148) ◽

pp. 49-65 ◽

Cited By ~ 31

Keyword(s):

British Columbia ◽

Special Reference ◽

Community Ecology ◽

Lower Cambrian ◽

South Australia ◽

Burgess Shale ◽

Middle Cambrian ◽

Upper Cambrian ◽

Exceptional Preservation ◽

Biotic Diversity

The geological setting, biotic diversity and taphonomy of Cambrian soft-bodied Lagerstätten are reviewed with special reference to the Lower Cambrian Emu Bay Shale (South Australia) and Kinzers Formation (Pennsylvania), and the Middle Cambrian Stephen Formation (Burgess Shale and adjacent localities, British Columbia). Brief mention is made also of a number of more minor occurrences in the U.S.A., China and Spain. Exceptional preservation in the Upper Cambrian is discussed by K. J. Müller (this symposium). These soft-bodied Lagerstätten afford a series of special insights into the nature of Cambrian life. Emphasis is laid on the information they provide with regards (i) levels of diversity and the proportion of skeletized taxa; (ii) the origin and relative success of bodyplans; (iii) community ecology and evolution.

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Occurrence of the eudemersal radiodont Cambroraster in the early Cambrian Chengjiang Lagerstätte and the diversity of hurdiid ecomorphotypes

Geological Magazine ◽

10.1017/s0016756820000187 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 157 (7) ◽

pp. 1200-1206 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Yu Liu ◽

Rudy Lerosey-Aubril ◽

Denis Audo ◽

Dayou Zhai ◽

Huijuan Mai ◽

...

Keyword(s):

New Species ◽

South China ◽

Early Cambrian ◽

Burgess Shale ◽

Stem Group ◽

Lower Palaeozoic ◽

Trophic Webs ◽

Chengjiang Lagerstätte ◽

A New Species

AbstractRadiodonts are a diverse clade of Lower Palaeozoic stem-group euarthropods that played a key role in the emergence of complex marine trophic webs. The latest addition to the group, Cambroraster falcatus, was recently described from the Wuliuan Burgess Shale, and is characterized by a unique horseshoe-shaped central carapace element. Here we report the discovery of Cambroraster sp. nov. A, a new species from the Cambrian Stage 3 Chengjiang Lagerstätte of South China. The new occurrence of Cambroraster demonstrates that some of the earliest known radiodonts had already evolved a highly derived carapace morphology adapted to an essentially eudemersal life as sediment foragers.

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