Exceptional preservation of a novel gill grade in large Cretaceous inoceramids: systematic and palaeobiological implications

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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Failed prey or peculiar necrolysis? Isolated ammonite soft body from the Late Jurassic of Eichstätt (Germany) with complete digestive tract and male reproductive organs

Swiss Journal of Palaeontology ◽

10.1186/s13358-020-00215-7 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 140 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Christian Klug ◽

Günter Schweigert ◽

Helmut Tischlinger ◽

Helmut Pochmann

Keyword(s):

Digestive Tract ◽

Late Jurassic ◽

Reproductive Organs ◽

Mantle Cavity ◽

Soft Body ◽

Exceptional Preservation ◽

Attachment Structures ◽

Male Reproductive Organs ◽

Marine Basins

AbstractAmmonoid soft parts have been rarely described. Here, we document the soft parts of a perisphinctid ammonite from the early Tithonian of Wintershof near Eichstätt (Germany). This exceptional preservation was enabled by the special depositional conditions in the marine basins of the Solnhofen Archipelago. Here, we document this find and attempt to homologize its parts with various organs such as the digestive tract, reproductive organs, the mantle cavity with gills, and the hyponome, with differing degrees of reservation. Alternative interpretations are also taken into account. We suggest that the soft parts were separated from the conch either taphonomically (following necrolytical processes affecting the attachment structures) or during a failed predation, where a predator (fish or coleoid) removed the soft parts from the conch but then dropped them. This find is interesting because it adds to the knowledge of ammonite anatomy, which is normally hidden in the conch. The reproductive organs show traces of what might have been spermatophores, thus supporting the hypothesis that the microconchs represented the males.

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Domestic Practice in Postclassic Santa Isabel, Nicaragua

Latin American Antiquity ◽

10.1017/s1045663500007665 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 19 (1) ◽

pp. 64-82 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Geoffrey G. McCafferty

Keyword(s):

Material Culture ◽

Community Organization ◽

Belief Systems ◽

Postclassic Period ◽

Household Level ◽

Exceptional Preservation ◽

Four Seasons ◽

Site Variation ◽

Domestic Practice ◽

Botanical Remains

Four seasons of excavation at the Santa Isabel site on the shore of Lake Nicaragua have recovered an extensive assemblage of material remains relating to Early Postclassic period (A.D. 800–1250) domestic practice. This paper reports initial project results, specifically relating to themes of architecture, foodways, specialized production, and belief systems. Exceptional preservation of organic materials such as faunal and botanical remains, as well as bone tools, permits an expansive description of the material culture relating to household level consumption. Through the intensive coverage of 5 ha of the site center, including 10 house mounds, we see that intra-site variation also reflects community organization. Finally, Santa Isabel presents potential for inferring cultural relationships between central Mexico (based on ethnohistorical accounts) and Greater Nicoya.

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Exceptional preservation in Lower Devonian coalified fossils from the Welsh Borderland: a new genus based on reniform sporangia lacking thickened borders

Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society ◽

10.1111/j.1095-8339.1995.tb00454.x ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 117 (3) ◽

pp. 233-254 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

D. EDWARDS ◽

U. FANNING ◽

K. L. DAVIES ◽

L. AXE ◽

J. B. RICHARDSON

Keyword(s):

Lower Devonian ◽

New Genus ◽

Exceptional Preservation

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Environment deterioration and related fungal infection of Upper Jurassic horseshoe crabs with remarks on their exceptional preservation

Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology ◽

10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.12.015 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 516 ◽

pp. 336-341 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Błażej Błażejowski ◽

Piotr Gieszcz ◽

Andrew P. Shinn ◽

Rodney M. Feldmann ◽

Ewa Durska

Keyword(s):

Fungal Infection ◽

Upper Jurassic ◽

Exceptional Preservation ◽

Horseshoe Crabs

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Exceptional preservation in the Jurassic of Osteno

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

10.1098/rstb.1985.0149 ◽

1985 ◽

Vol 311 (1148) ◽

pp. 171-180 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Keyword(s):

Calcium Phosphate ◽

Organic Material ◽

Soft Tissues ◽

Taxonomic Diversity ◽

Cellular Level ◽

Metasomatic Process ◽

Exceptional Preservation ◽

Sea Bottom ◽

Colloidal Calcium Phosphate ◽

Sediment Interface

The Sinemurian deposit of Osteno, discovered in 1964, is remarkable for the exceptional preservation of its fossils. They are almost exclusively non-calcareous organisms such as fishes, crustaceans, polychaetes and nematodes. Their exceptional fossilization is due to a metasomatic process implying a molecule-for-molecule replacement of the organic material by colloidal calcium phosphate, a process that has permitted the preservation of the soft tissues of the organisms in some cases even to cellular level. The Osteno deposit formed on a poorly oxygenated sea bottom inhabited by fauna with a low taxonomic diversity, in some cases monotypic. Infaunal organisms are not found in the deposit since the H 2 S-O 2 boundary was probably situated slightly below the water-sediment interface.

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Last interglacial (MIS 5e) sea-level proxies in southeastern South America

Earth System Science Data ◽

10.5194/essd-13-171-2021 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 171-197

Author(s):

Evan J. Gowan ◽

Alessio Rovere ◽

Deirdre D. Ryan ◽

Sebastian Richiano ◽

Alejandro Montes ◽

...

Keyword(s):

South America ◽

Sea Level ◽

Last Interglacial ◽

Amino Acid Racemization ◽

Exceptional Preservation ◽

Infrared Stimulated Luminescence ◽

Spin Resonance ◽

Coastal Deposits ◽

Mis 5E ◽

Terrace Level

Abstract. Coastal southeast South America is one of the classic locations where there are robust, spatially extensive records of past high sea level. Sea-level proxies interpreted as last interglacial (Marine Isotope Stage 5e, MIS 5e) exist along the length of the Uruguayan and Argentinian coast with exceptional preservation especially in Patagonia. Many coastal deposits are correlated to MIS 5e solely because they form the next-highest terrace level above the Holocene highstand; however, dating control exists for some landforms from amino acid racemization, U∕Th (on molluscs), electron spin resonance (ESR), optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL), and radiocarbon dating (which provides minimum ages). As part of the World Atlas of Last Interglacial Shorelines (WALIS) database, we have compiled a total of 60 MIS 5 proxies attributed, with various degrees of precision, to MIS 5e. Of these, 48 are sea-level indicators, 11 are marine-limiting indicators (sea level above the elevation of the indicator), and 1 is terrestrial limiting (sea level below the elevation of the indicator). Limitations on the precision and accuracy of chronological controls and elevation measurements mean that most of these indicators are considered to be low quality. The database is available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3991596 (Gowan et al., 2020).

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Deciphering the preservation of fossil insects: a case study from the Crato Member, Early Cretaceous of Brazil

PeerJ ◽

10.7717/peerj.2756 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 4 ◽

pp. e2756 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

Gabriel Ladeira Osés ◽

Setembrino Petri ◽

Bruno Becker-Kerber ◽

Guilherme Raffaeli Romero ◽

Marcia de Almeida Rizzutto ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Extracellular Polymeric Substances ◽

Soft Tissues ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Size Variation ◽

Northeastern Brazil ◽

Geochemical Data ◽

Fossil Insects ◽

Exceptional Preservation ◽

Zn And Cu In ◽

Crato Member

Exceptionally well-preserved three-dimensional insects with fine details and even labile tissues are ubiquitous in the Crato Member Konservat Lagerstätte (northeastern Brazil). Here we investigate the preservational pathways which yielded such specimens. We employed high resolution techniques (EDXRF, SR-SXS, SEM, EDS, micro Raman, and PIXE) to understand their fossilisation on mineralogical and geochemical grounds. Pseudomorphs of framboidal pyrite, the dominant fossil microfabric, display size variation when comparing cuticle with inner areas or soft tissues, which we interpret as the result of the balance between ion diffusion rates and nucleation rates of pyrite through the originally decaying carcasses. Furthermore, the mineral fabrics are associated with structures that can be the remains of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). Geochemical data also point to a concentration of Fe, Zn, and Cu in the fossils in comparison to the embedding rock. Therefore, we consider that biofilms of sulphate reducing bacteria (SRB) had a central role in insect decay and mineralisation. Therefore, we shed light on exceptional preservation of fossils by pyritisation in a Cretaceous limestone lacustrine palaeoenvironment.

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