Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-2lccl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T18:39:11.926Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A commensal relationship between a small filter feeding organism and Australian Devonian spiriferid brachiopods

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 May 2016

Brian D. E. Chatterton
Brian D. E. Chatterton*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E1
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Open-ended tubes were found extending inward from the inner surfaces of brachial valves of three different species of Emsian spiriferid brachiopods. It is believed that these tubes were formed by the outer epithelium of the brachiopods, precipitating shell material around a small commensal filter feeding organism living in the outer mantle cavity. The position of the open ends of these tubes, the business end of the filter feeding organism, in every case discovered is between the bases of the two spiralia. This lends support to the suggestion of Ager (1961) and Wallace and Ager (1966) that spiriferid brachiopods had median inhalant and lateral exhalant feeding currents. These structures are named Burrinjuckia spiriferidophilia n.gen. n.sp. They are trace fossils of indeterminate taxonomic position.

Type
Research Article
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 1 , Issue 4 , Fall 1975 , pp. 371 - 378
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

Literature Cited

Ager, D. V. 1961. The epifauna of a Devonian spiriferid Q. J. Geol. Soc. Lond. 117:1–7.Google Scholar
Ager, D. V. 1963. Principles of Paleoecology. 371 pp. McGraw-Hill; New York.Google Scholar
Biernat, G. 1961. Diorygma atrypophilia n.gen. n.sp.—parasitic organism of Atrypa zonata Schnur. Acta Paleontol. Pol. 6:17–28.Google Scholar
Brunton, H. 1966. Predation and shell damage in a Viséan brachiopod fauna. Palaeontology. 9:355–359.Google Scholar
Chatterton, B. D. E. 1970. Some Aspects of the Palaeontology, Palaeoecology and Biostratigraphy of the Limestones of the Murrumbidgee Group at Taemas, Near Yass, New South Wales. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis. Aust. Natl. Univ., Canberra.Google Scholar
Chatterton, B. D. E. 1971. Taxonomy and Ontogeny of Siluro-Devonian trilobites from near Yass, New South Wales. Palaeontogr. A. 137:1–108.Google Scholar
Chatterton, B. D. E. 1973. Brachiopods of the Murrumbidgee Group, Taemas, New South Wales. Bur. Miner. Resour. Geol. Geophys. Aust. Bull. 137:1–146.Google Scholar
Cooper, G. A. and Grant, R. E. 1974. Permian brachiopods of West Texas, II. Smithson. Contrib. Paleobiol. 15:1–793.Google Scholar
Copper, P. 1967. Brachidial structures of some Devonian atrypid brachiopods. J. Paleontol. 41:1176–1183.Google Scholar
Fenton, C. L. and Fenton, M. A. 1931. Some snail borings of Paleozoic age. Am. Midl. Nat. 12:522–528.Google Scholar
Hayasaka, I. 1953. Fossil occurrence of pelecypod shells bored by certain gastropods. Mem. Fac. Sci. Taihoku Imp. Univ. pp. 65–70.Google Scholar
Ivanova, Ye A. 1967. Origin and scope of the Order Spiriferida. Paleontol. J. Issue. 4:51–63.Google Scholar
Jørgensen, C. B. 1955. Quantitative aspects of filter feeding in invertebrates. Biol. Rev. 30:391–454.Google Scholar
Jørgensen, C. B. 1966. Biology of Suspension Feeding. 357 pp. Pergamon Press; Oxford.Google Scholar
McCammon, H. M. 1969. The food of articulate brachiopods. J. Paleontol. 43:976–985.Google Scholar
Rudwick, M. J. S. 1960. The feeding mechanisms of spire-bearing fossil brachiopods. Geol. Mag. 97:369–383.Google Scholar
Rudwick, M. J. S. 1970. Living and Fossil Brachiopods. 199 pp. Hutchinson Co.; London, England.Google Scholar
Schlaudt, C. M. and Young, K. 1960. Acrothoracic barnacles from the Texas Permian and Cretaceous. J. Paleontol. 34:903–907.Google Scholar
Strusz, D. L., Chatterton, B. D. E., and Flood, P. G. 1970. Revision of the New South Wales Devonian brachiopod “Spirifer” yassensis. Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 95:170–190.Google Scholar
Teichert, C. 1945. Parasitic worms in Permian brachiopod and pelecypod shells in Western Australia. Am. J. Sci. 243:197–209.Google Scholar
Wallace, P. and Ager, D. V. 1966. Demonstration: Flume experiments to test the hydrodynamic properties of certain spiriferid brachiopods with reference to their supposed life orientation and mode of feeding. Proc. Geol. Soc. 1635:160–163.Google Scholar
Williams, A. 1960. Feeding mechanisms of spire-bearing brachiopods. Geol. Mag. 97:514–516.CrossRefGoogle Scholar