Cambrorhytium

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]

Cambrorhytium
Temporal range: Chengjiang - Burgess Shale
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Cnidaria
Class: Staurozoa
Order: †Conulatae
Clade: †Conulariida
Genus: †Cambrorhytium
(Walcott 1908) Conway Morris and Robison, 1988[1]
Species
  • C. elongatum
  • C. fragilis Walcott 1911
  • C. gracilis Chang et al. 2018
  • C. major Walcott 1908 (type)

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. 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. 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. Bibcode:2005GeoM..142..699Z. 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. 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. Bibcode:2007Palai..22..691H. 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 (1–2): 129–152. Bibcode:2005PPP...220..129S. 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 (eds.). 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.
  • "Cambrorhytium major". Burgess Shale Fossil Gallery. Virtual Museum of Canada. 2011. (Burgess Shale species 31)


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