Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-l4dxg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-08T08:04:54.978Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Reexamination of Yuknessia from the Cambrian of China and first report of Fuxianospira from North America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 May 2016

Steven T. LoDuca ,
Mengyin Wu ,
Yuanlong Zhao ,
Shuhai Xiao ,
James D. Schiffbauer ,
Jean-Bernard Caron  and
Loren E. Babcock
Steven T. LoDuca
Affiliation:
Department of Geography and Geology, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Michigan 48197, USA 〈[email protected]〉
Mengyin Wu
Affiliation:
Department of Economics and Management, Guiyang University, Guiyang, Guizhou 550005, China 〈[email protected]〉
Yuanlong Zhao
Affiliation:
College of Resource and Environment Engineering, Guizhou University, Guiyang, Guizhou 550003, China 〈[email protected]〉
Shuhai Xiao
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, USA 〈[email protected]〉
James D. Schiffbauer
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri 65211, USA 〈[email protected]〉
Jean-Bernard Caron
Affiliation:
Department of Natural History (Palaeobiology), Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen’s Park, Toronto ON M5S 2C6, Canada; University of Toronto, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 25 Willcocks Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3B2, Canada; University of Toronto, Department of Earth Sciences, 25 Russell Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3B1, Canada 〈[email protected]〉
Loren E. Babcock
Affiliation:
School of Earth Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA; Department of Geology, Sölvegatan 12, Lund University, SE-223 62, Lund, Sweden 〈[email protected]〉
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Yuknessia Walcott, 1919 recently was transferred from the green algae to the Phylum Hemichordata on the basis of new details observed for the type species, Y. simplex, from the Burgess Shale Formation (Cambrian Stage 5) of British Columbia. This has prompted reexamination of material attributed to Yuknessia from various Cambrian localities in South China. Findings preclude both a Yuknessia and a hemichordate affinity for all of the Chinese study material, and most of this material is formally transferred to Fuxianospira Chen and Zhou, 1997, a taxon common in the Chengjiang biota. Comparable material from the Cambrian Marjum, Wheeler, and Burgess Shale formations of North America is also assigned to Fuxianospira, and this reassignment expands both the paleogeographic and stratigraphic range of this taxon. All aspects of the study specimens, including details obtained from scanning electron microscopy, are consistent with an algal affinity, as proposed in the original descriptions of the Chinese material.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 89 , Issue 6 , November 2015 , pp. 899 - 911
Copyright
Copyright © 2016, 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

Aldridge, R.J., Gabbott, S.E., Siveter, L.J., and Theron, J.N., 2006, Bromalites from the Soom Shale Lagerstätte (Upper Ordovician) of South Africa: palaeoecological and palaeobiological implications: Palaeontology, v. 49, p. 857–871.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, E.P., Schiffbauer, J.D., and Xiao, S., 2011, Taphonomic study of organic-walled microfossils confirms the importance of clay minerals and pyrite in Burgess Shale-type preservation: Geology, v. 39, p. 643–646.Google Scholar
Babcock, L.E., and Zhang, W.T., 2001, Stratigraphy, paleontology, and depositional setting of the Chengjiang Lagerstätte (lower Cambrian), Yunnan, China, in Peng, S., Babcock, L.E., and Zhu, M., eds., Cambrian of South China. Hefei, University of Science and Technology of China Press, p. 66–86.Google Scholar
Babcock, L.E., Peng, S., Wasserman, G.J., and Robison, R.A., 2011, Exceptionally preserved biota from a carbonate lithofacies, Huaqiao Formation (Cambrian: Drumian Stage), Hunan, China: Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists, v. 42, p. 137–151.Google Scholar
Butterfield, N.J., 1995, Secular distribution of Burgess Shale-type preservation: Lethaia, v. 28, p. 1–13.Google Scholar
Butterfield, N.J., and Nicholas, C.J., 1996, Burgess Shale-type preservation of both non-mineralizing and ‘shelly’ Cambrian organisms from the Mackenzie Mountains, northwestern Canada: Journal of Paleontology, v. 70, p. 893–899.Google Scholar
Butterfield, N.J., Balthasar, U., and Wilson, L.A., 2007, Fossil diagenesis in the Burgess Shale: Palaeontology, v. 50, p. 537–543.Google Scholar
Cai, Y., Schiffbauer, J.D., Hua, H., and Xiao, S., 2012, Preservational modes in the Ediacaran Gaojiashan Lagerstätte: pyritization, aluminosilicification, and carbonaceous compression: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 326, p. 109–117.Google Scholar
Caron, J.-B., 2005, Taphonomy and community analysis of the Middle Cambrian Greater Phyllopod Bed, Burgess Shale [Ph.D. dissertation]: Toronto, University of Toronto, 316 p.Google Scholar
Caron, J.-B., and Jackson, D.A., 2008, Paleoecology of the Greater Phyllopod Bed community, Burgess Shale: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 258, p. 222–256.Google Scholar
Chapman, F., and Thomas, D.E., 1936, The Cambrian Hydroida of the Heathcote and Monegeeta districts: Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, New Series, v. 48, p. 193–212.Google Scholar
Chen, J.Y., and Erdtman, B.­D., 1991, Lower Cambrian fossil Lagerstätte from Chengjiang, Yunnan, China: insights for reconstructing early metazoan life, in Simonetta, A.M., and Conway Morris, S., eds., The Early Evolution of Metazoa and the Significance of Problematic Taxa. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, p. 57–75.Google Scholar
Chen, M., and Xiao, Z., 1991, Discovery of the macrofossils in the Upper Sinian Doushantuo Formation at Miaohe, eastern Yangtze Gorges: Scientia Geologica Sinica, v. 4, p. 317–324.Google Scholar
Chen, J.Y., and Zhou, G., 1997, Biology of the Chengjiang fauna: Bulletin of the National Museum of Natural Science, v. 10, p. 11–105.Google Scholar
Chen, J.Y., Zhou, G.Q., Zhu, M.Y., and Yeh, K.Y., 1996, The Chengjiang Biota: A Unique Window of the Cambrian Explosion: Taichung, National Museum of Natural Science, 222 p.Google Scholar
Chen, M., and Xiao, Z., 1992, Macrofossil biota from upper Doushantuo Formation in eastern Yangtze Gorges, China: Acta Palaeontologica Sinica, v. 31, p. 513–529.Google Scholar
Cohen, P.A., Bradley, A., Knoll, A.H., Grotzinger, J.P., Jensen, S., Abelson, J., Hand, K., Love, G., Metz, J., McLoughlin, N., Meister, P., Shepard, R., Tice, M., and Wilson, J.P., 2009, Tubular compression fossils from the Ediacaran Nama Group, Namibia: Journal of Paleontology, v. 83, p. 110–122.Google Scholar
Conway Morris, S., and Robison, R.A., 1988, More soft-bodied animals and algae from the Middle Cambrian of Utah and British Columbia: The University of Kansas Paleontological Contributions, v. 122, p. 1–48.Google Scholar
Forchielli, A., Steiner, M., Kasbohm, J., Hu, S., and Keupp, H., 2014, Taphonomic traits of clay-hosted early Cambrian Burgess Shale-type fossil Lagerstätten in South China: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 398, p. 59–85.Google Scholar
Frei, E., and Preston, R.D., 1961, Cell wall organization and wall growth in the filamentous green algae Cladophora and Chaetomorpha. II. Spiral growth and spiral structure: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B, v. 155, p. 55–81.Google Scholar
Fu, X., Wu, M., Liu, X., Peng, J., and Zhao, Y., 2010, Macroalgae from the Balang Formation of the Duyunian (Cambrian), Guizhou Province: Acta Micropalaeontologica Sinica, v. 27, p. 231–241.Google Scholar
Fu, X., Wu, M., Zhao, Y., Zhu, W., and Yang, Y., 2012, Discovery of macroalgae from the Cambrian Tsinghsutung Formation of Guizhou: Acta Palaeontologica Sinica, v. 51, p. 56–63.Google Scholar
Gabbott, S.E., Hou, X.G., Norry, M.J., and Siveter, D.J., 2004, Preservation of Early Cambrian animals of the Chengjiang biota: Geology, v. 32, p. 901–904.Google Scholar
Gaines, R.R., Briggs, D.E.G., and Zhao, Y., 2008, Cambrian Burgess Shale-type deposits share a common mode of fossilization: Geology, v. 36, p. 755–758.Google Scholar
Gnilovskaya, M.B., 1971, The most ancient Vendian water plants on the Russian platform: Paleontological Journal, v. 3, p. 101–107.Google Scholar
Graham, L.E., Cook, M.E., Wilcox, L.W., Graham, J., Taylor, W., Wellman, C.H., and Lewis, L., 2013, Resistance of filamentous chlorophycean, ulvophycean, and xanthophycean algae to acetolysis: testing Proterozoic and Paleozoic microfossil attributions: International Journal of Plant Science, v. 17, p. 947–957.Google Scholar
Guo, J., Li, Y., and Shu, D., 2010, Fossil macroscopic algae from the Yanjiahe Formation, Terreneuvian of the Three Gorges area, South China: Acta Palaeontologica Sinica, v. 49, p. 336–342.Google Scholar
Handle, K.C., and Powell, W.G., 2012, Morphologically simple enigmatic fossils from the Wheeler Formation: a comparison with definitive algal fossils: Palaios, v. 27, p. 304–316.Google Scholar
Harvey, T.H.P., and Butterfield, N.J., 2011, Macro- and microfossils of the Mount Cap Formation (Early and Middle Cambrian, Northwest Territories): Geoscience Canada, v. 38, p. 165–173.Google Scholar
Hofmann, H.J., and Mountjoy, E.W., 2010, Ediacaran body and trace fossils in Miette Group (Windermere Supergroup) near Salient Mountain, British Columbia, Canada: Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 47, p. 1305–1325.Google Scholar
Hou, X.G., Bergström, J., Wang, H.F., Feng, X.H., and Chen, A.L., 1999, The Chengjiang Fauna: Exceptionally Well-Preserved Animals from 530 Million Years Ago: Kunming, Yunnan Science and Technology Press, 170 p.Google Scholar
Hou, X., Aldridge, R., Bergstrom, J., Siveter, D.J., Siveter, D., and Feng, X., 2004, The Cambrian Fossils of Chengjiang, China: The Flowering of Early Animal Life: Malden, Wiley Blackwell, 233 p.Google Scholar
Hu, S., 2005, Taphonomy and paleoecology of the Early Cambrian Chengjiang Biota from eastern Yunnan, China: Berliner Paläobiologische Abhandlungen, v. 7, 197 p.Google Scholar
Hurd, C., Harrison, P., Bischof, K., and Lobban, C., 2014, Seaweed Ecology and Physiology, 2nd edition: Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 562 p.Google Scholar
Knoll, A., 2014, Paleobiological perspectives on early eukaryotic evolution: Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology, doi: 10.1101/cshperspect.a016121.Google Scholar
Lin, J.-P., and Briggs, D.E.G., 2010, Burgess Shale-type preservation: a comparison of naraoiids (Arthropoda) from three Cambrian localities: Palaios, v. 25, p. 463–467.Google Scholar
Lloyd, C., and Chan, J., 2002, Helical microtubule arrays and spiral growth: The Plant Cell, v. 14, p. 2319–2324.Google Scholar
LoDuca, S.T., Caron, J.-B., Schiffbauer, J.D., Xiao, S., and Kramer, A., 2015, A reexamination of Yuknessia from the Cambrian of British Columbia and Utah: Journal of Paleontology, v. 89, p. 82–95.Google Scholar
Luo, H., Hu, S., Chen, L., Zhang, S., and Tao, Y., 1999, Early Cambrian Chengjiang Biota from Kunming Region, China: Kunming, Yunnan Science and Technology Press, 129 p.Google Scholar
Maletz, J., Steiner, M., and Fatka, O., 2005, Middle Cambrian pterobranchs and the question: What is a graptolite?: Lethaia, v. 38, p. 73–85.Google Scholar
Maletz, J., and Steiner, M., 2015, Graptolite (Hemichordata, Pterobranchia) preservation and identification in the Cambrian Series 3: Palaeontology, v. 58, p. 1073–1107.Google Scholar
Mao, J.R., Zhao, Y., and Yu, P., 1994, Noncalcareous algae of Kaili fauna in Taijiang, Guizhou: Acta Palaeontologica Sinica, v. 33, p. 348–349.Google Scholar
Meyer, M., Schiffbauer, J.D., Xiao, S., Cai, Y., and Hua, H., 2012, Taphonomy of the late Ediacaran enigmatic ribbon-like fossil Shaanxilithes: Palaios, v. 27, p. 354–372.Google Scholar
Muscente, A.D., and Xiao, S., 2015, Resolving three-dimensional and subsurficial features of carbonaceous compressions and shelly fossils using backscattered electron scanning electron microscopy (BSE-SEM): Palaios, v. 30, p. 462–481.Google Scholar
Odom, R., and Waters, L., 2014, A safe alternative to invasive Caulerpa taxifolia (Chlorophtya)? Assessing aquarium-release invasion potential of aquarium strains of the macroalgal genus Chaetomorpha (Chlorophyta): Biological Invasions, v. 16, p. 1589–1597.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orr, P.J., Briggs, D.E.G., and Kearns, S.L., 1998, Cambrian Burgess Shale animals replicated in clay minerals: Science, v. 281, p. 1173–1175.Google Scholar
Orr, P.J., Kearns, S.L., and Briggs, D.E.G., 2009, Elemental mapping of exceptionally preserved ‘carbonaceous compression’ fossils: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 277, p. 1–8.Google Scholar
Page, A., Gabbott, S.E., Wilby, P.R., and Zalasiewicz, J.A., 2008, Ubiquitous Burgess Shale–style “clay templates” in low-grade metamorphic mudrocks: Geology, v. 36, p. 855–858.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petrovich, R., 2001, Mechanisms of fossilization of the soft-bodied and lightly armored faunas of the Burgess Shale and of some other classical localities: American Journal of Science, v. 301, p. 683–726, doi: 10.2475/ajs.301.8.683.Google Scholar
Schiffbauer, J.D., Xiao, S., Cai, Y., Wallace, A.F., Hua, H., Hunter, J., Xu, H., Peng, Y., and J. Kaufman, A., 2014, A unifying model for Neoproterozoic-Paleozoic exceptional fossil preservation through pyritization and carbonaceous compression: Nature Communications, v. 5, n. 5754, doi: 10.1038/ncomms6754.Google Scholar
Shen, C., Pratt, B.R., and Zhang, X.-G., 2014, Phosphatized coprolites from the middle Cambrian (Stage 5) Duyun fauna of China: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 410, p. 104–112.Google Scholar
Steiner, M., Zhu, M., Zhao, Y., and Erdtmann, B.-D., 2005, Lower Cambrian Burgess Shale-type fossil associations of South China: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 220, p. 129–152.Google Scholar
Walcott, C.D., 1919, Cambrian Geology and Paleontology IV, no. 5 Middle Cambrian algae: Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, v. 67, p. 217–260.Google Scholar
Wang, A., Freeman, J., and Kuebler, K.E., 2002, Raman spectroscopic characterization of phyllosilicates. Lunar and Planetary Science Conference XXXIII, Abstract #1374.Google Scholar
Wu, M., Zhao, Y., Tong, J., and Yang, R., 2011, New macroalgal fossils of the Kaili Biota in Guizhou Province, China: Science China Earth Sciences, v. 54, p. 93–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xiao, S., Yuan, X., Steiner, M., and Knoll, A., 2002, Macroscopic carbonaceous compressions in a terminal Proterozoic shale: a systematic reassessment of the Miaohe biota, South China: Journal of Paleontology, v. 76, p. 347–376.Google Scholar
Xiao, S., Droser, M., Gehling, J.G., Hughes, I.V., Wan, B., Chen, Z., and Yuan, X., 2013, Affirming life aquatic for the Ediacara biota in China and Australia: Geology, v. 41, p. 1095–1098.Google Scholar
Yang, R., 2006, Study on Algae Fossils and Palaeoecology of Kaili Biota, Guizhou Province: Guiyang, Guizhou Science and Techonology Press, 162 p.Google Scholar
Yang, R., Zhao, Y., and Guo, Q.-J., 1999, Algae and acritarchs and their palaeooceanographic significance from the early Cambrian black shale in Guizhou, China: Acta Palaeontologica Sinica, v. 38, p. 146–156. [in Chinese with English summary]Google Scholar
Yang, R., Zhang, W., Jiang, L., and Gao, H., 2003, Members of the Chengjiang Biota from the Lower Cambrian Niutitang Formation, Zunyi County, Guizhou Province, China: Acta Geologica Sinica, v. 77, p. 145–150. [in Chinese with English summary]Google Scholar
Zhao, Y., Zhu, M.Y., Babcock, L.E., and Peng, J., eds., 2011, The Kaili Biota: Marine Organisms from 508 Million Years Ago: Guiyang, Guizhou Publishing Group, 251 p. [in Chinese with English summary]Google Scholar
Zhu, M.Y., Babcock, L.E., and Steiner, M., 2005, Fossilization modes in the Chengjiang Lagerstätte (Cambrian of China): testing the roles of organic preservation and diagenetic alteration in exceptional preservation: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 220, p. 31–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar