Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-05T12:35:11.208Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

An enigmatic bilateral fossil from the Lower Cambrian of Morocco

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

Gerd Geyer
Gerd Geyer*
Affiliation:
Institut für Paläontologie, Universität Würzburg, Pleicherwall 1, 8700 Würzburg, Germany
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Disklike, firm, bilaterally symmetrical fossils recovered from the middle Lower Cambrian Amouslek Formation of the Moroccan Anti-Atlas are described under the name Microschedia amphitrite n. gen. and sp. Their systematic affinity, particularly to brachiopods and cnidarians, and resemblance to existing taxa are discussed. Although interpretation as a brachiopod appears to be more convincing, their morphology does not permit a precise determination of systematic position.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 68 , Issue 4 , July 1994 , pp. 710 - 716
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

Babcock, L. E., and Robison, R. A. 1988. Taxonomy and paleobiology of some Middle Cambrian Scenella (Cnidaria) and hyolithids (Mollusca) from western North America. University of Kansas Paleontological Contributions, Paper 121, 22 p.Google Scholar
Berneker, E., and Geyer, G. 1990. The Oued Boutergui section, western Anti-Atlas: Cambrian stratigraphy, fossil distribution, and depositional history. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Monatshefte, 1990(7):385–403.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conway Morris, S. 1989. Burgess Shale faunas and the Cambrian explosion, Science, 246:339–346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conway Morris, S., and Peel, J. S. 1990. Articulated halkieriids from the Lower Cambrian of North Greenland. Nature, 345(6278):802–805.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conway Morris, S., and Robison, R. A. 1988. More soft-bodied animals and algae from the Middle Cambrian of Utah and British Columbia. University of Kansas Paleontological Contributions, Paper 122, 48 p.Google Scholar
Conway Morris, S., Savoy, L. E., and Harris, A. G. 1991. An enigmatic organism from the ‘Exshaw’ Formation (Devonian–Carboniferous), Alberta, Canada. Lethaia, 24:139–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donaldson, A. C. 1962. A patelliform gastropod, Palaelophacmaea criola: a new genus and species from the Lower Ordovician of central Pennsylvania. West Virginia Academy of Science, Proceedings, 34:143–149.Google Scholar
Dzik, J. 1991. Is fossil evidence consistent with traditional views of the early metazoan phylogeny?, p. 47–56. In Simonetta, A. M. and Conway Morris, S. (eds.), The Early Evolution of Metazoa and the Significance of Problematic Taxa. Proceedings of an International Symposium held at the University of Camerino, 27-31 March 1989. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Evans, K. R. 1992. Marocella: Antarctic specimens of an enigmatic Cambrian animal. Journal of Paleontology, 66:558–562.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fedonkin, M. A. 1981. Belomorskaya biota venda [The Vendian White Sea biota]. Akademiya Nauk SSSR, Geologicheskij Instituta, Trudy, 342, 100 p.Google Scholar
Fedonkin, M. A. 1983. [Organic world of the Vendian. Stratigraphy and paleontology.] Akademiya Nauk SSSR, Itogi Nauki Tekhniki, VINITI, 12, 127 p.Google Scholar
Fedonkin, M. A. 1986. Precambrian problematic animals: their body plan and phylogeny, p. 59–67. In Hoffman, A. and Nitecki, M. H. (eds.), Problematic Fossil Taxa. Oxford University Press, New York, and Clarendon Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Fedonkin, M. A. 1987. Besskeletnaya fauna venda i ee mesto v evolyutsii metazoa [The nonskeletal fauna of the Vendian and its place in the evolution of Metazoa]. Akademiya Nauk SSSR, Paleontologicheskogo Instituta, Trudy, 226, 178 p.Google Scholar
Geyer, G. 1986. Mettelkambrische Mollusken aus Marokko und Spanien. Senckenbergiana lethaea, 67(1/4):55–118.Google Scholar
Geyer, G. 1989. Late Precambrian to early Middle Cambrian lithostratigraphy of southern Morocco. Beringeria, 1:115–143.Google Scholar
Geyer, G. 1990. Revised Lower to lower Middle Cambrian biostratigraphy of Morocco. Newsletters on Stratigraphy, 22(2/3):53–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gould, S. J. 1989. Wonderful Life. The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History. W. W. Norton, New York, 347 p.Google Scholar
Hofmann, H. J. 1988. An alternative interpretation of the Ediacaran (Precambrian) chondrophore Chondroplon Wade. Alcheringa, 12:315–318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horný, R. 1985. Bellerophacmaea gen. n. (Mollusca) and Palaeolophacmaea Donaldson, 1962 (Coelenterata), an example of homeomorphy in invertebrate paleozoology. Casopis Národního Muzea v Praze, otdíl přirodního, 154:119–124.Google Scholar
Hupé, P. 1959. Nouvelle contribution à l'étude du Cambrien marocain. Unpubl. Thèse Scientifique de la Faculté des Sciences, Université de Paris, 447 p.Google Scholar
Jenkins, R. J. F. 1989. The ‘supposed terminal Precambrian extinction event’ in relation to the Cnidaria. Association of Australasian Paleontologists, Memoir 8:307–317.Google Scholar
Yugan, Jin, and Huaya, Wang. 1992. Revision of the Lower Cambrian brachiopod Heliomedusa Sun & Hou, 1987. Lethaia, 25:35–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kase, T. 1988. Reinterpretation of Brunonia annulata (Yokoyama) as an Early Cretaceous carinariid mesogastropod (Mollusca). Journal of Paleontology, 62:766–771.Google Scholar
Kirkpatrick, P. A., and Pugh, P. R. 1984. Siphonophores and velellids. Synopsis of the British Fauna, 29, E. J. Brill, Leiden, 154 p.Google Scholar
Landing, E. 1988. Lower Cambrian of eastern Massachusetts: stratigraphy and small shelly fossils. Journal of Paleontology, 62:661–695.Google Scholar
Mergl, M., and Šlehoferová, P. 1990. Middle Cambrian inarticulate brachiopods from Central Bohemia. Sbornik geologického věd, Paleontologie, 31:67–104.Google Scholar
Narbonne, G. M., Myrow, P., Landing, E., and Anderson, M. M. 1991. A chondrophorine (medusoid hydrozoan) from the basal Cambrian (Placentian) of Newfoundland. Journal of Paleontology, 65:186–191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oliver, W. A. Jr. 1984. Conchopeltis: its affinities and significance. Paleontographica Americana, 54:141–147.Google Scholar
Jiayu, Rong. 1974. Cambrian brachiopods, p. 113–114. In Handbook of Palaeontology and Stratigraphy of Southwestern China. Science Press, Beijing [in Chinese].Google Scholar
Seilacher, A. 1984. Late Precambrian and Early Cambrian Metazoa: preservational or real extinctions, p. 159–168. In Holland, H. B. and Trendall, A. F. (eds.), Patterns of Change in Earth Evolution. Dahlem-Konferenzen, Springer-Verlag, Berlin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seilacher, A. 1989. Vendozoa: organismic construction in the Proterozoic biosphere. Lethaia, 22:229–239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stanley, G. D. Jr. 1986. Chondrophorine hydrozoans as problematic fossils, p. 68–86. In Hoffman, A. and Nitecki, M. H. (eds.), Problematic Fossil Taxa. Oxford University Press, New York, and Clarendon Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Stasinska, A. 1960. Velumbrella czarnockii n. gen., n. sp. Méduse du Cambrien inférieur des Monts de Sainte-Croix. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 5:337–348.Google Scholar
Weiguo, Sun. 1991. Early Cambrian medusiform fossils from Chenjiang, Yunnan, China, p. 131. In Simonetta, A. M. and Conway Morris, S. (eds.), The Early Evolution of Metazoa and the Significance of Problematic Taxa. Proceedings of an International Symposium held at the University of Camerino, 27-31 March 1989. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Weiguo, Sun, and Xian-guang, Hou. 1987. Early Cambrian medusae from Chenjiang, Yunnan, China. Acta Palaeontologica Sinica, 26:257–271 [in Chinese, with English abstract].Google Scholar
Wade, M. 1971. Bilateral Precambrian chondrophores from the Ediacara fauna, South Australia. Royal Society of Victoria, Proceedings, 84:183–188.Google Scholar
Yochelson, E. L., and Gil Cid, D. 1984. Reevaluation of the systematic position of Scenella. Lethaia, 17:331–340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yochelson, E. L., and Mason, C. E. 1986. A chondrophorine coelenterate from the Borden Formation (Lower Mississippian) of Kentucky. Journal of Paleontology, 60:1025–1028.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yochelson, E. L., and Stanley, G. D. Jr. 1981. An early Ordovician patelliform gastropod, Palaelophacmaea, reinterpreted as a coelenterate. Lethaia, 14:323–330.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yochelson, E. L., Stürmer, W., and Stanley, G. D. Jr. 1983. Plectodiscus discoideus (Rauff): a redescription of a chondrophorine from the Early Devonian Hunsrück Slate, West Germany. Paläontologische Zeitschrift, 57(1/2):37–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yokoyama, M. 1890. Versteinerungen aus der japanischen Kreide. Palaeontographica, 36:159–202.Google Scholar
Želízko, J. V. 1911. Nové příspěvky ke studiu jineckého kambria. Rozpravi Českého Akademi Císare Frantiska Josefa pro Vědy Slovesn ost a Úmění, II, 20(10):1–7.Google Scholar