Cambrorhytium

Cambrorhytium
Temporal range: Chengjiang–Burgess Shale
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Cnidaria
Class: Scyphozoa
Clade: †Conulariida
Genus: Cambrorhytium
(Walcott 1908) Conway Morris and Robison, 1988[1]
Species
  • C. elongatum
  • C. fragilis Walcott 1911
  • C. major Walcott 1908 (type)

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]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Conway Morris, Simon; Robison, R.A. (1988). "More soft-bodied animals and algae from the Middle Cambrian of Utah and British Columbia." (PDF). University of Kansas Paleontological Contributions. 122: 1–48.
  2. 1 2 3 Waggoner, Ben; Hagadorn, James W. (2005). "Conical fossils from the Lower Cambrian of Eastern California". Paleobios. 25 (1).
  3. ↑ 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 (6): 699. doi:10.1017/S0016756805000518.
  4. ↑ Caron, Jean-Bernard; Jackson, Donald A. (October 2006). "Taphonomy of the Greater Phyllopod Bed community, Burgess Shale". PALAIOS. 21 (5): 451–65. doi:10.2110/palo.2003.P05-070R. JSTOR 20173022.
  5. 1 2 Han, J.; Zhang, Z.; Liu, J.; Shu, D. (2007). "EVIDENCE OF PRIAPULID SCAVENGING FROM THE EARLY CAMBRIAN CHENGJIANG DEPOSITS, SOUTHERN CHINA". PALAIOS. Society for Sedimentary Geology. 22 (6): 691–694. doi:10.2110/palo.2006.p06-117r. ISSN 0883-1351.
  6. ↑ 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.
  7. ↑ Walcott, C. D. (1908). "Mount Stephen rocks and fossils". Canadian Alpine Journal. 1: 232–248.
  8. ↑ Walcott, C.D. (1911). "Cambrian Geology and Paleontology II, no. 5. Middle Cambrian annelids". Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. 57: 109–144.
  9. ↑ Walcott, C.D. (1912). "Cambrian of the Kicking Horse Valley, B.C.". Geological Survey of Canada Report. 26: 188.
  10. ↑ 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.
  11. ↑ Conway Morris, S (1977). "Fossil priapulid worms". Special Papers in Palaeontology. 20 (4): 1–95.
  12. ↑ Briggs, D.E.G.; S. Conway Morris (1986). "Problematica from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale of British Columbia.". In Hoffman, A., M.H.; Nitecki. Problematic Fossil Taxa. New York: Oxford University Press.
  13. ↑ 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.
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