Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T09:26:58.113Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Soft anatomy of sunellid arthropods from the Chengjiang Lagerstutte, Lower Cambrian of southwest China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

Xingliang Zhang  and
Degan Shu
Xingliang Zhang
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, and State Key Laboratory for Continental Dynamics, Northwest University, Xian 710069, PR China,
Degan Shu
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, and State Key Laboratory for Continental Dynamics, Northwest University, Xian 710069, PR China,
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Two bivalved arthropods of the family Sunellidae Huo, 1965 are described from the Lower Cambrian Helinpu Formation of southwestern China: Sunella cf. shensiensis Huo, 1965 and Combinivalvula chengjiangensis Hou, 1987. Both taxa preserve soft anatomies, described here for the first time, including a pair of lateral eyes and a possible median eye, a trunk carrying flaplike appendages, and a simple gut with caeca. The family Sunellidae includes three genera: Sunella Huo, Combinivalvula Hou, and Jinningella Huo and Shu. In contrast to most other Cambrian arthropods with a larger bivalved carapace, especially those from the Burgess Shale–type deposits, sunellids lack a limbless abdomen protruding posteriorly beyond the carapace. This, coupled with a combination of a number of snared features (e.g., the presence of cardinal spines and distinctive anterodorsal sulcus, elongated valves, and median eye), appears to support sunellids as a clade. The distinctive anterodorsal sulcus extending from the anterodorsal corner to the anteromedian part of the carapace is regarded as an autapomorphy for this clade. Sunellids resemble Isoxys Walcott, 1890 to which they may be closely related; both possess a bivalved, elongated carapace with cardinal spines that almost entirely covers the body. However, neither cephalic appendages nor proximal portions of trunk limbs are visible in sunellids, and thus, their systematic position remains uncertain.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 81 , Issue 6 , November 2007 , pp. 1412 - 1422
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Briggs, D. E. G. 1976. The arthropod Branchiocaris n. gen., Middle Cambrian, Burgess Shale, British Columbia. Geological Survey of Canada Bulletin, 264:1–29.Google Scholar
Briggs, D. E. G. 1977. Bivalved arthropods from the Cambrian Burgess Shale of British Columbia. Palaeontology, 20:595–621.Google Scholar
Briggs, D. E. G. 1978. The morphology, mode of life, and affinities of Canadaspis perfecta (Crustacea: Phyllocarida), Middle Cambrian, Burgess Shale, British Columbia. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, B, 281:431–487.Google Scholar
Briggs, D. E. G. and Collins, D. 1999. The arthropod Alalcomenaeus cambricus Simonetta, from Mount Stephen, British Columbia. Palaeontology, 42:779–798.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Briggs, D. E. G., Erwin, D. H., and Collier, F. J. 1994. The Fossils of the Burgess Shale. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC, 238 p.Google Scholar
Brusca, R. C. and Brusca, G. J. 2003. Invertebrates (second edition). Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Massachusetts, 936 p.Google Scholar
Bruton, D. L. and Whittington, H. B. 1983. Emeraldella and Leanchoilia, two arthropods from the Burgess Shale, Middle Cambrian, British Columbia. Philosophical Transactions of. the Royal Society of London, B, 300:553–585.Google Scholar
Butterfield, N. J. 2002. Leanchoilia guts and the interpretation of three-dimensional structures in Burgess Shale-type fossils. Paleobiology, 28:155–171.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, J.-Y. and Zhou, G.-Q. 1997. The biology of the Chengjiang fauna. Bulletin of the National Museum of Natural Science, 10:11–106.Google Scholar
Chen, J.-Y., Edgecombe, G. D., and Ramsköld, L. 1997. Morphological and ecological disparity in naraoiids (Arthropoda) from the Early Cambrian Chengjiang fauna, China. Records of Australian Museum, 49:1–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glaessner, M. F. 1979. Lower Cambrian Crustacea and annelid worms from Kangaroo Island, South Australia. Alcheringa, 3:21–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gürich, G. 1926. Über Silesicaris nasuta, eine neue Phyllokaride aus dem Bober-Katzbachgebirge. Paläontologische Zeitschrift, 8:110–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hou, X.-G. 1987. Early Cambrian large bivalved arthropods from Chengjiang, eastern Yunnan. Acta Palaeontogica Sinica, 26:286–299. (In Chinese with English summary)Google Scholar
Hou, X.-G. 1999. New rare bivalved arthropods from the Lower Cambrian Chengjiang fauna, Yunnan, China. Journal of Paleontology, 73:102–116.Google Scholar
Hou, X.-G. and Bergström, J. 1997. Arthropods of the Lower Cambrian Chengjiang fauna, Southwest China. Fossils and Strata, 45:1–115.Google Scholar
Hou, X.-G., Aldridge, R. J., Bergström, J., Siveter, D. J., Siveter, D. J., and Feng, X.-H. 2004a. The Cambrian Fossils of Chengjiang, China: The Flowering of Early Animal Life. Blackwell Science, Oxford, 233 p.Google Scholar
Hou, X.-G., Bergström, J., and Xu, G.-H. 2004b. The Lower Cambrian crustacean Pectocaris from the Chengjiang biota, Yunnan, China. Journal of Paleontology, 78:700–708.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hou, X.-G., Siveter, D. J., Williams, M., and Feng, X.-H. 2002. A monograph of the bradoriid arthropods from the Lower Cambrian of China. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edingburgh: Earth Sciences, 92:347–409.Google Scholar
Hou, X.-G., Siveter, D. J., Williams, M., Walossek, D., and Bergström, J. 1996. Appendages of the arthropod Kunmingella from the Early Cambrian of China: Its bearing on the systematic position of the Bradoriida and the fossil record of the Ostracoda. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, B, 351:1131–1145.Google Scholar
Hou, X.-G., Bergström, J., Wang, H.-F., Feng, X.-F., and Chen, A.-L. 1999. The Chengjiang Fauna—Exceptionally Well-preserved Animals from 530 Million Years Ago. Yunnan Science and Technology Press, Kunming, 170 p. (In Chinese with English summary)Google Scholar
Huo, S.-C. 1965. Additional notes on Lower Cambrian Archaeostraca from Shensi and Yunnan. Acta Palaeontogica Sinica, 13:291–307. (In Chinese and English summary)Google Scholar
Huo, S.-C. and Shu, D.-G. 1983. On the phylogeny and ontogeny of Bradoriida, with discussion of the origin of Crustacea. Journal of Northwest University (China), 38:82–88. (In Chinese with English summary)Google Scholar
Huo, S.-C. and Shu, D.-G. 1985. Cambrian Bradoriida of South China. The Northwest University Press, Xian, 251 p. (In Chinese with English summary)Google Scholar
Jones, P. J. and McKenzie, K. G. 1980. Queensland middle Cambrian Bradoriida (Crustacea): New taxa, palaeobiogeography and biological affinities. Alcheringa, 4:203–225.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lieberman, B. S. 2003. A new soft-bodied fauna: The Pioche Formation of Nevada. Journal of Paleontology, 77:674–690.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orlov, Yu. A. (ed.). 1960. Osnovy Paleontologii, Arthropoda, Trilobitomorpha and Crustacea. Nedra, Moscow.Google Scholar
Raymond, P. E. 1935. Leanchoilia and other mid-Cambrian Arthropoda. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard, 76:205–230.Google Scholar
Schram, F. R. 1986. Crustacea. Oxford University Press, New York, 345 p.Google Scholar
Shu, D.-G., Zhang, X.-L., and Geyer, G. 1995. Anatomy and systematic affinities of the Lower Cambrian bivalved arthropod Isoxys auritus. Alcheringa, 19:333–342.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shu, D.-G., Vannier, J., Luo, H.-L., Chen, L., Zhang, X.-L., and Hu, S.-X. 1999. Anatomy and lifestyle of Kunmingella (Arthropoda, Bradoriida) from the Chengjiang fossil Lagerstätte (Lower Cambrian, Southwest China). Lethaia, 32:279–298.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Siebold, von C. E. T. and Stannius, H. 1845. Lehrbuch der Vergleichenden Anatomie der Wirbellosen Tiere. Berlin, Veit.Google Scholar
Siveter, D. J. and Williams, M. 1997. Cambrian bradoriids and phosphatocopid arthropods of North America. Special Papers in Palaeontology, 57:1–69.Google Scholar
Taylor, R. S. 2002. A new bivalved arthropod from the Early Cambrian Sirius Passet fauna, North Greenland. Palaeontology, 45:97–123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vannier, J. and Chen, J.-Y. 2000. The Early Cambrian colonization of pelagic niches exemplified by Isoxys (Arthropoda). Lethaia, 33:295–311.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walcott, C. D. 1890. The fauna of the Lower Cambrian or Olenellus Zone. Reports of the U.S. Geological Survey, 10:509–763.Google Scholar
Walcott, C. D. 1912. Middle Cambrian Branchiopoda, Malacostraca, Trilobita and Merostomata. Cambrian Geology and Paleontology II. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 57:109–144.Google Scholar
Whittington, H. B. 1977. The Middle Cambrian trilobite Naraoia, Burgess Shale, British Columbia. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, B, 280:409–463.Google Scholar
Williams, M., Siveter, D. J., and Peel, J. S. 1996. Isoxys (Arthropoda) from the Early Cambrian Sirius Passet Lagerstätte, North Greenland. Journal of Paleontology, 70:947–954.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wills, M. A., Briggs, D. E. G., Fortey, R. A., and Wilkinson, M. 1995. The significance of fossils in understanding arthropod evolution. Verhandlungen der Deutschen Zoologischen Gesellschaft, 88:203–215.Google Scholar
Zhang, X.-L., Shu, D.-G., and Erwin, D. H.In press. Cambrian naraoiids (Arthropoda). The Paleontological Society Memoir.Google Scholar
Zhang, X.-L., Shu, D.-G., and Han, J. 2000. A new arthropod, Pygmaclypeatus daziensis, from the Early Cambrian Chengjiang Lagerstatte, South China. Journal of Paleontology, 74:800–803.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, X.-L., Shu, D.-G., Li, Y., and Han, J. 2001. New sites of Chengjiang fossils: Crucial windows on the Cambrian explosion. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 158:211–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar