Maikhanellids are a distinct group of Cambrian Fortunian small shelly fossils by the capshaped profiles and scaly shell ornamentation.According to the individual shell shape and ornamentation feature types of 50 maikh...Maikhanellids are a distinct group of Cambrian Fortunian small shelly fossils by the capshaped profiles and scaly shell ornamentation.According to the individual shell shape and ornamentation feature types of 50 maikhanellids fossils which were collected from Xixiang botia,we confirmed the family Maikhanellidae content of six genera,which are Maikhanella,Ramenta,Purella,Ramentoides,Yunnannopleura and Mediata.Unlike the halkieriid animals whose shells and spicules are articulated on different body parts,maikhanellids were presumably yielded by siphogonuchitid spicules penetrating the intermediate matrix（the ＂spicule shell＂ hypothesis）,and this is the reason that some researchers treated maikhanellids and co-occurring siphogonuchitids as synonyms.The affinities of Maikhanellids and siphogonuchitids remain debatable.Here,we report three dimensionally phosphatized maikhanellid shells and siphogonuchitid spicule bundles from the Cambrian Fortunian small shell faunas of South China.They differ from all the previously reported maikhanellids and siphogonuchitids,and may represent new types.The intact and smooth surface underneath the partially preserved scales of the shells challenges the ＂spicule-shell＂ hypothesis.The present siphogonuchitid spicules differ from the maikhanellid scales in size,morphology,and.arrangement pattern,thus the spicules might not be derived from the shells.Whether the shells and spicule bundles were articulated on different body parts of the same animals remains unknown.展开更多
We describe new material of three-dimensionally phosphatized small shelly fossils Acanthocassis and Xinlispina gen.nov.from the Fortunian Stage（early Cambrian） of southern Shaanxi and northern Sichuan Provinces.The ...We describe new material of three-dimensionally phosphatized small shelly fossils Acanthocassis and Xinlispina gen.nov.from the Fortunian Stage（early Cambrian） of southern Shaanxi and northern Sichuan Provinces.The new materials allow description of the delicate morphology of these skeletons, and also their skeletogenesis.Acanthocassis and Xinlispina have comparable morphological features： a main branch and radially arranged sub-branches.They differ from each other in many details, e.g., the presence of a single central branch only in Xinlispina, and the presence of small nodes only in Acanthocassis.Acanthocassis cannot be a naked anthopolyp or hydropolyp because of the more-or-less stiffened cuticle and the absence of a mouth.Acanthocassisand Xinlispina differ from coeval sponge spicules and chancelloriid sclerites and rosettes of crossed pedicellariae of echinoderms, and might be cuticular ornaments of animals of unclear affinities.They occur in the first small shelly fossil assemblage zone, and could be adopted as auxiliary fossils for biostratigraphic correlation in southern China.展开更多
A wide variety of scalidophoran worms have been found in the Cambrian Fortunian in recent years,suggesting that scalidophorans diversified during this age.Here,we report new scalidophoran material obtained from the 2n...A wide variety of scalidophoran worms have been found in the Cambrian Fortunian in recent years,suggesting that scalidophorans diversified during this age.Here,we report new scalidophoran material obtained from the 2nd member of the Kuanchuanpu Formation(Fortunian Stage)in Zhangjiagou Lagerst?tte,Xixiang County,Shaanxi Province,South China.Three indeterminate forms of scalidophoran worms are described in detail.The morphology of these worms differs from that of any coeval worms and may represent new taxa.However,because these fossils are fragmented and lack detailed information on the arrangement pattern of introvert scalids,they are named here in open nomenclature.This study enriches the diversity of the earliest scalidophorans to 7 genera and species and 10 indeterminate forms.Based on the new fossils,Fortunian scalidophoran worms can be divided into three categories:(1)worms with microannuli;(2)worms with macroannuli;and(3)worms without annuli.展开更多
Biomineralization may have an extremely long evolutionary history since the Paleoarchean, while the widespread biomineralization among metazoan lineages started at the earliest Cambrian. However, the primary mineralog...Biomineralization may have an extremely long evolutionary history since the Paleoarchean, while the widespread biomineralization among metazoan lineages started at the earliest Cambrian. However, the primary mineralogy of Anabarites shell remains controversial. Optical microscopic observations combined with the Back-Scattered Electron（BSE） and Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy（EDS） analyses are used to study the shell of the fossil Anabarites from the Kuanchuanpu fauna in southern Shaanxi Province in China, which is correlated to the Cambrian Fortunian Stage. The EDS analysis shows that the phosphorus-rich layer closely adjacent to the calcified layer exhibits a Ca： P： C ratio compositionally similar to the mineral fluorapatite（Ca_5（PO_4,CO_3）_3（F,CO_3）. The result that the calcified layer and the phosphorus-rich layer have different chemical compositions is consistent with the optical observation that there is an obvious gap between these two layers and the phosphorus-rich layer can extend to the phosphatic material inside of the tube, suggesting the phosphorus-rich layer doesn＇t belong to the original shell. We suggest that the phosphorous-rich layer is diagenetic in origin, precipitated as a result of phosphorus release during the decay of organic matter by microbes. Considering the outermost shell layer（OMS, biologically controlled carbonate shell layer） should display different isotopic information from the carbonate matrix（i.e., OMS is ^（12）C concentrated due to the biogenic organic matter template is readily rich in ^（12）C）, Nano SIMS was used to map ion distributions of C and N in the shell of Anabarites and matrix. However, ion images show that the concentration differences of ^（12）C, ^（13）C and ^（26）CN among the OMS and the matrix are unclear, while ^（12）C and ^（26）CN are supposed to be enriched in the OMS. Therefore, the minor isotopic differences between the shell and the matrix is hard to be detected by Nano SIMS, at least in our sample, probably due to alteration of the ^（12）C-rich characteristic of the Anabarites OMS during the late diagenesis.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(41572009,41572007, 41472015)College Students' Innovative Entrepreneurial Training Program of Chang'an University(Grant No. 201610710043,201610710044,201610710047, 201610710045),0012-310600161000The Tenth "Challenge Cup" Competition of Chang'an University (C-P-B-2,C-P-B-6,C-P-B-8)
文摘Maikhanellids are a distinct group of Cambrian Fortunian small shelly fossils by the capshaped profiles and scaly shell ornamentation.According to the individual shell shape and ornamentation feature types of 50 maikhanellids fossils which were collected from Xixiang botia,we confirmed the family Maikhanellidae content of six genera,which are Maikhanella,Ramenta,Purella,Ramentoides,Yunnannopleura and Mediata.Unlike the halkieriid animals whose shells and spicules are articulated on different body parts,maikhanellids were presumably yielded by siphogonuchitid spicules penetrating the intermediate matrix（the ＂spicule shell＂ hypothesis）,and this is the reason that some researchers treated maikhanellids and co-occurring siphogonuchitids as synonyms.The affinities of Maikhanellids and siphogonuchitids remain debatable.Here,we report three dimensionally phosphatized maikhanellid shells and siphogonuchitid spicule bundles from the Cambrian Fortunian small shell faunas of South China.They differ from all the previously reported maikhanellids and siphogonuchitids,and may represent new types.The intact and smooth surface underneath the partially preserved scales of the shells challenges the ＂spicule-shell＂ hypothesis.The present siphogonuchitid spicules differ from the maikhanellid scales in size,morphology,and.arrangement pattern,thus the spicules might not be derived from the shells.Whether the shells and spicule bundles were articulated on different body parts of the same animals remains unknown.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41072012 and 41102003)the State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (113115 and 20132107)+2 种基金the Key Project of Central University Fund (CHD2012ZD017)College Students’ Innovative Entrepreneurial Training Program (201410710144 and 201410710105)The Ninth "Challenge Cup" Competition of College Students’ Extracurricular Academic and Technological Achievements, Chang’an University
文摘We describe new material of three-dimensionally phosphatized small shelly fossils Acanthocassis and Xinlispina gen.nov.from the Fortunian Stage（early Cambrian） of southern Shaanxi and northern Sichuan Provinces.The new materials allow description of the delicate morphology of these skeletons, and also their skeletogenesis.Acanthocassis and Xinlispina have comparable morphological features： a main branch and radially arranged sub-branches.They differ from each other in many details, e.g., the presence of a single central branch only in Xinlispina, and the presence of small nodes only in Acanthocassis.Acanthocassis cannot be a naked anthopolyp or hydropolyp because of the more-or-less stiffened cuticle and the absence of a mouth.Acanthocassisand Xinlispina differ from coeval sponge spicules and chancelloriid sclerites and rosettes of crossed pedicellariae of echinoderms, and might be cuticular ornaments of animals of unclear affinities.They occur in the first small shelly fossil assemblage zone, and could be adopted as auxiliary fossils for biostratigraphic correlation in southern China.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.41872014,41572009)the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(Grant No.XDB26000000)+1 种基金the State Key Laboratory of Paleobiology and Stratigraphy,Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology,the Chinese Academy of Sciences(Grant No.193123)the Basic Research Plan of Natural Science of Shaanxi Province(Grant No.2018JM4002)。
文摘A wide variety of scalidophoran worms have been found in the Cambrian Fortunian in recent years,suggesting that scalidophorans diversified during this age.Here,we report new scalidophoran material obtained from the 2nd member of the Kuanchuanpu Formation(Fortunian Stage)in Zhangjiagou Lagerst?tte,Xixiang County,Shaanxi Province,South China.Three indeterminate forms of scalidophoran worms are described in detail.The morphology of these worms differs from that of any coeval worms and may represent new taxa.However,because these fossils are fragmented and lack detailed information on the arrangement pattern of introvert scalids,they are named here in open nomenclature.This study enriches the diversity of the earliest scalidophorans to 7 genera and species and 10 indeterminate forms.Based on the new fossils,Fortunian scalidophoran worms can be divided into three categories:(1)worms with microannuli;(2)worms with macroannuli;and(3)worms without annuli.
基金funded by MOST Special Fund from the State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, Northwest University, MOST (No. 2011CB808805)NSFC (No. 41172029)
文摘Biomineralization may have an extremely long evolutionary history since the Paleoarchean, while the widespread biomineralization among metazoan lineages started at the earliest Cambrian. However, the primary mineralogy of Anabarites shell remains controversial. Optical microscopic observations combined with the Back-Scattered Electron（BSE） and Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy（EDS） analyses are used to study the shell of the fossil Anabarites from the Kuanchuanpu fauna in southern Shaanxi Province in China, which is correlated to the Cambrian Fortunian Stage. The EDS analysis shows that the phosphorus-rich layer closely adjacent to the calcified layer exhibits a Ca： P： C ratio compositionally similar to the mineral fluorapatite（Ca_5（PO_4,CO_3）_3（F,CO_3）. The result that the calcified layer and the phosphorus-rich layer have different chemical compositions is consistent with the optical observation that there is an obvious gap between these two layers and the phosphorus-rich layer can extend to the phosphatic material inside of the tube, suggesting the phosphorus-rich layer doesn＇t belong to the original shell. We suggest that the phosphorous-rich layer is diagenetic in origin, precipitated as a result of phosphorus release during the decay of organic matter by microbes. Considering the outermost shell layer（OMS, biologically controlled carbonate shell layer） should display different isotopic information from the carbonate matrix（i.e., OMS is ^（12）C concentrated due to the biogenic organic matter template is readily rich in ^（12）C）, Nano SIMS was used to map ion distributions of C and N in the shell of Anabarites and matrix. However, ion images show that the concentration differences of ^（12）C, ^（13）C and ^（26）CN among the OMS and the matrix are unclear, while ^（12）C and ^（26）CN are supposed to be enriched in the OMS. Therefore, the minor isotopic differences between the shell and the matrix is hard to be detected by Nano SIMS, at least in our sample, probably due to alteration of the ^（12）C-rich characteristic of the Anabarites OMS during the late diagenesis.
