Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-swr86 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-17T08:55:41.013Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Tommotiids from the Lower Cambrian of South China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

S. Conway Morris  and
Chen Menge
S. Conway Morris
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, CB2 3EQ, U.K.
Chen Menge
Affiliation:
Institute of Geology, Academia Sinica, Beijing, People's Republic of China
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Tommotiids are a geologically short-lived group of early skeletal fossils, most abundant in the Lower Cambrian. Redescriptions of a lapworthellid (Lapworthella rete Yue, 1987) and a tannuolinid (Tannuolina zhangwentangi Qian and Bengtson, 1989) from the Jiulaodong Formation, Maidiping, Sichuan, augment previous accounts. Lapworthella rete approaches the L. dentata–L. schodackensis complex, but has a prominent external pattern of polygons that probably represent imprints of epithelial cells. Description of Tannuolina zhangwentangi emphasises ultrastructural features, including the mode of growth, development of canals, and possible epithelial imprints on the interior surfaces. Data on size variation of epithelial imprints in tommotiids are reviewed to try to infer possible variations in genome content of the cells. In addition, poorly preserved lapworthellids (Lapworthella sp.) are described from the Qiongzhusi Formation, Meishucun, Yunnan.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 64 , Issue 2 , March 1990 , pp. 169 - 184
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

Azmi, R. J. 1983 [date of cover 1981]. Microfauna and age of the Lower Tal phosphorite of Mussourie syncline, Garhwal Lesser Himalaya, India. Himalayan Geology, 11:373–409.Google Scholar
Balinski, A. 1988. Shell morphology and structure in Lingulipora Girty. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 33:123–133.Google Scholar
Bengtson, S. 1970. The Lower Cambrian fossil Tommotia . Lethaia, 3:363–392.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bengtson, S. 1977. Aspects of problematic fossils in the early Palaeozoic. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, 415:1–71.Google Scholar
Bengtson, S. 1983. The early history of the Conodonta. Fossils and Strata, 15:5–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bengtson, S. 1986. A new Mongolian species of the Lower Cambrian genus, Camenella and the problems of scleritome-based taxonomy of the Tommotiidae. Paläontologisches Zeitschrift, 60:45–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bengtson, S., Conway Morris, S., Cooper, B. J., Jell, P. A., and Runnegar, B. In press. Early Cambrian skeletal fossils from South Australia. Memoir of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists.Google Scholar
Bischoff, G. C. O. 1976. Dailyatia, a new genus of the Tommotiidae from Cambrian strata of SE Australia (Crustacea, Cirripedia). Senckenbergiana lethaea, 57:1–33.Google Scholar
Boyde, A. 1969. Correlation of ameloblast size with enamel prism pattern: use of scanning electron microscope to make surface area measurements. Zeitschrift Zellforschungen, 93:583–593.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boyde, A. 1976. Amelogenesis and the structure of enamel, p. 335–353. In Cohen, B. and Kramer, I. R. H. (eds.), Scientific Foundations of Dentistry. William Heinemann Medical Books, London.Google Scholar
Brasier, M. D. 1986. The succession of small shelly fossils (especially conoidal microfossils) from English Precambrian-Cambrian boundary beds. Geological Magazine, 123:237–256.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brasier, M. D. 1989. Towards a biostratigraphy of the earliest skeletal biotas, p. 117–165. In Cowie, J. W. and Brasier, M. D. (eds.), The Precambrian-Cambrian Boundary. Clarendon, Oxford.Google Scholar
Brasier, M. D., and Singh, P. 1987. Microfossils and Precambrian-Cambrian boundary stratigraphy at Maldeota, Lesser Himalaya. Geological Magazine, 124:323–345.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cavalier-Smith, T. 1982. Skeletal DNA and the evolution of genome size. Annual Review of Biophysics and Bio-engineering, 11:273–302.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Menge, Chen, Xianggao, Chen, and Qiuyuan, Lao. 1975. An introduction to the Metazoa fossil from the Upper Sinian in southern Shensi and its stratigraphic significance. Scientia Geologica Sinica, 1975:181–190. (In Chinese, with English abstract).Google Scholar
Yiyuan, Chen, and Shushen, Zhang. 1980 [date of article 1880]. Earliest Cambrian small shelly fauna from Song Lin Pu of the Yangtze Gorges. Geological Review, 26:190–197 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Yiyuan, Chen, Shushen, Zhang, Guizhi, Liu, Xingwu, Xiong, Ping, Chen, et al. 1984 [date of cover 1983]. The Sinian-Cambrian boundary in the eastern part of the Yangtze Gorges, Hubei. Bulletin of the Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, 10 (Special Issue on the Sinian-Cambrian boundary of China):14–35 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Cobbold, E. S. 1921. The Cambrian horizons of Comley (Shropshire) and their Brachiopoda, Pteropoda, Gasteropoda, etc. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, 76:325–386.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cobbold, E. S. 1935. Lower Cambrian faunas from Hérault, France. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 16(Series 10):25–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conway Morris, S. 1987. The search for the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary. American Scientist, 75:156–167.Google Scholar
Conway Morris, S., and Fritz, W. H. 1984. Lapworthella filigrana n. sp. (incertae sedis) from the Lower Cambrian of the Cassiar Mountains, northern British Columbia, Canada, with comments on possible levels of competition in the early Cambrian. Paläontologisches Zeitschrift, 58:197–209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conway Morris, S., and Harper, E. 1988. Genome size in conodonts (Chordata): inferred variations during 270 million years. Science, 241:1230–1232.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curry, G. B. 1983a. Microborings in Recent brachiopods and the functions of caeca. Lethaia, 16:119–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curry, G. B. 1983b. Brachiopod caeca—a respiratory role? Lethaia, 16:311–312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chenghua, Duan. 1984 [date of cover 1983]. Small shelly fossils from the Lower Cambrian Xihaoping Formation in the Shennongjia district, Hubei Province—hyolithids and fossil skeletons of unknown affinities. Bulletin of the Tianjin Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, 7:143–188 (in Chinese, with English summary).Google Scholar
Fleming, P. J. G. 1973. Bradoriids from the Xystridura Zone of the Georgina Basin, Queensland. Geological Survey of Queensland, Publication 356 (Palaeontological Paper 31):1–9.Google Scholar
Fonin, V. D., and Smirnova, T. N. 1967. Novaya gruppa problematicheskikh rannekembrijskih organizmov i nekotorye metody ikh preparirovaniya. [A new group of problematical early Cambrian organisms and some methods of preparing them.] Paleontologicheskij Zhurnal 1967(2):15–27 (in Russian, English translation in Paleontological Journal, 1967 (2):7–18).Google Scholar
Grigor'yeva, N. V., Melnikova, L. M., and Pelman, Yu. L. 1983. Brakiopody, ostrakody (bradoriidy) i problematika iz stratotipicheskogo rayona yarusnov nizhnego kembriya. [Brachiopods, ostracodes (bradoriids) and problematica from the stratotypic region of the Lower Cambrian stages.] Palaeontologicheskij Zhurnal, 1983(3):54–58 (in Russian, English translation in Paleontological Journal, 1983:51–56).Google Scholar
Tinggui, He, Ding, , Lianfang, , et al. 1984. The Sinian-Cambrian boundary in southwestern part of Sichuan. Bulletin of the Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, 10 (Special Issue on the Sinian-Cambrian boundary of China):64–90 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Hinz, I. 1987. The Lower Cambrian microfauna of Comley and Rushton, Shropshire, England. Palaeontographica, Abteilung A, 198:41–100.Google Scholar
Iwata, K. 1981. Ultrastructure and mineralization of the shell of Lingula unguis Linne (Inarticualte [sic] brachiopod). Journal of the Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Series IV, 20:35–65.Google Scholar
Zhiwen, Jiang. 1982. Description of the fossils. Section 1. Small shelly fossils, p. 163–200. In Huilin, Luo, Zhiwen, Jiang, Xiche, Wu, Xueliang, Song, Lin, Ouyang, et al., The Sinian-Cambrian boundary in eastern Yunnan, China. People's Publishing House, Yunnan (in Chinese, with English abstract).Google Scholar
Zhiwen, Jiang. 1984a. Bioaction in the earliest Cambrian phosphorite deposition, p. 195–208. In Symposium of 5th International Field Workshop and Seminar on Phosphorite. Geological Publishing House, Beijing (in Chinese with English abstract).Google Scholar
Zhiwen, Jiang. 1984b. Evolution of early shelly metazoans and basic characteristics of Meishucun fauna. Professional Papers of Stratigraphy and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, 13:1–22 (in Chinese, with English abstract).Google Scholar
Zhiwen, Jiang. 1985. On the genus Tannuolina . Acta Micropalaeontologica Sinica, 2:231–238 (in Chinese, with English abstract).Google Scholar
Landing, E. 1984. Skeleton of lapworthellids and the suprageneric classification of tommotiids (Early and Middle Cambrian phosphatic problematica). Journal of Paleontology, 58:1380–1398.Google Scholar
Landing, E. 1988. Lower Cambrian of eastern Massachusetts: Stratigraphy and small shelly fossils. Journal of Paleontology, 62:661–695.Google Scholar
Landing, E., Nowlan, G. S., and Fletcher, T. P. 1980. A microfauna associated with early Cambrian trilobites of the Callavia Zone, northern Antigonish Highlands, Nova Scotia. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 17:400–418.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laurie, J. R. 1986. Phosphatic fauna of the early Cambrian Todd River Dolomite, Amadeus Basin, central Australia. Alcheringa, 10:431–454.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Di-Yong, Liu. 1987. Brachiopods and tommotiids near Precambrian-Cambrian boundary in SW China, p. 345–400. In Stratigraphy and Palaeontology of Systemic Boundaries in China, Precambrian-Cambrian Boundary (1). Nanjing University Publishing House, Nanjing.Google Scholar
Lochman, C. 1956. Stratigraphy, paleontology, and paleogeography of the Elliptocephala asaphoides strata in Cambridge and Hoosick quadrangles, New York. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 67:1331–1396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yen-Hao, Lu. 1979. Cambrian mineral deposits in China and the bioenvironmental control hypothesis. Geological Publishing House, Beijing, 75 p.Google Scholar
Huilin, Luo, Zhiwen, Jiang, Xiche, Wu, Xueliang, Song, Lin, Ouyang, Yusheng, Xing, Guizhi, Liu, Shishan, Zhang, and Yonghe, Tao. 1984. Sinian-Cambrian boundary stratotype section at Meishucun, Jinning, Yunnan, China. People's Publishing House, Yunnan, 154 p.Google Scholar
Matthews, S. C. 1973. Lapworthellids from the Lower Cambrian Strenuella limestone at Comley, Shropshire. Palaeontology, 16:139–148.Google Scholar
Matthews, S. C., and Missarzhevsky, V. V. 1975. Small shelly fossils of late Precambrian and early Cambrian age: a review of recent work. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 131:289–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McLean, A. E. 1988. Epithelial moulds from some Upper Ordovician acrotretide brachiopods of Ireland. Lethaia, 21:43–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Missarzhevsky, V. V. 1969. Opisanie chiolitov, gastropod, chiolitel'mintov, kamenid i form neyasnogo sistematicheskogo polozheniya, p. 103–175. [Description of hyolithids, gastropods, hyolithelminths, cameninds and forms of an obscure taxonomic position, p. 127–205.] InYu Rozanov, A., Missarzhevsky, V. V., Volkova, N. A., Voronova, L. G., Krylov, I. N., Keller, B. M., Korolyuk, I. K., Lendzion, K., Michniak, R., Pykhova, N. G., and Sidorov A. D., Tommotskij yarus i problem nizhnei granitsky kembryia. [The Tommotian stage and the Cambrian lower boundary problem.] Trudy Geologicheskogo Instituta AN SSSR, 206 (in Russian, English translation by Amerind Publishing Co., New Delhi, 1981).Google Scholar
Missarzhevsky, V. V. 1970. Novye rodovoe nazvanie Tommotia Missarzhevsky, nom. nov. [New generic name Tommotia Missarzhevsky, nom. nov.]. Paleontologicheski. Zhurnal, 1970(4):100 (in Russian, English translation in Paleontological Journal, 1970:546).Google Scholar
Missarzhevsky, V. V., and Grigor'yeva, N. V. 1981. Novye predstaviteli otryada Tommotiida [New representatives of the order Tommotiida]. Paleontologicheskij Zhurnal, 1981(4):91–97 (in Russian, English translation in Paleontological Journal, 15:96–103).Google Scholar
Missarzhevsky, V. V., and Mambetov, A. M. 1981. Stratigrafiya i fauna pogranichnykh sloev kembriya i dokembriya Malogo Karatau. [Stratigraphy and fauna of Cambrian and Precambrian boundary beds of Maly Karatau.] Trudy Geologicheskogo Instituta AN SSSR, 326:1–90 (in Russian).Google Scholar
Okada, Y. 1982. Structure and cuticle formation of the reticulated carapace of the ostracode Bicornucythere bisanensis . Lethaia, 15:85–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olmo, E., Capriglione, T., and Odierna, G. 1989. Genome size evolution in vertebrates: trends and constraints. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, 92B:447–453.Google Scholar
Poulsen, C. 1942. Nogle hidtil ukendte Fossiler fra Bornholms Exsulanskalk. Meddelelser fra Dansk Geologisk Forening, 10:212–235 (in Danish, with English summary).Google Scholar
Poulsen, V. 1971. Notes on an Ordovician acrotretacean brachiopod from the Oslo region. Bulletin of the Geological Society of Denmark, 20:265–78.Google Scholar
Yi, Qian. 1978a. The early Cambrian hyolithids in central and southwest China and their stratigraphical significance. Memoirs of Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, 11:1–38.Google Scholar
Yi, Qian. 1978b. Palaeontological descriptions, Sinian, p. 109–138. In Stratigraphy and Palaeontology from Sinian to Permian in the eastern part of the Yangtze Gorge. Hubei Province, Geological Department, Yangtze Gorge Working Group. Geological Publishing House, Beijing (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Yi, Qian., and Bengtson, S. 1989. Palaeontology and biostratigraphy of the early Cambrian Meishucunian State in Yunnan Province, south China. Fossils and Strata, 24:1–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yi, Qian., Menge, Chen, and Yiyuan, Chen. 1979. Hyolithids and other small shelly fossils from the Lower Cambrian Huangshandong Formation in the eastern part of the Yangtze Gorge. Acta Palaeontologica Sinica, 18:207–230 (in Chinese, with English abstract).Google Scholar
Yi, Qian., and Gongzheng, Yin. 1984. Small shelly fossils from the lowermost Cambrian in Guizhou. Professional Papers of Stratigraphy and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, 13:91–123 (in Chinese, with English abstract).Google Scholar
Yi, Qian., and Shiben, Zhang. 1983. Small shelly fossils from the Xihaoping Member of the Tongying Formation in Fangxian County of Hubei Province and their stratigraphical significance. Acta Palaeontologica Sinica, 22:82–94 (in Chinese, with English abstract).Google Scholar
Hongbin, Qin and Xiaoqi, Yuan. 1984. Lower Cambrian Archaeocyatha from southern Shaanxi province, China. Palaeontographica Americana, 54:441–443.Google Scholar
Rolfe, W. D. I. 1962. The cuticle of some Middle Silurian ceratiocaridid Crustacea from Scotland. Palaeontology, 5:30–51.Google Scholar
Rowell, A. J., and Henderson, R. A. 1978. New genera of acrotretids from the Cambrian of Australia and the United States. The University of Kansas Paleontological Contributions, Paper, 93:1–12.Google Scholar
Rozanov, A. Yu., and Missarzhevsky, V. V. 1966. Biostratigrafiya i fauna nizhnikh gorizontov kembriya. [Biostratigraphy and fauna of Lower Cambrian horizons.] Trudy Geologicheskogo Instituta AN SSSR, 148:1–126 (in Russian).Google Scholar
Ushatinskaya, G. T., Zezina, O. N., Popov, L. E., and Putivleva, N. B. 1988. O mikrostrukture i mineral'nom sostave brakhiopod s fosfatnokal'tsievoj rakovinoj. [On the microstructure and mineralogy of phosphato-calcium shells of brachiopods.] Paleontologicheskij Zhurnal, 1988(3):45–55 (in Russian).Google Scholar
Voronova, L. G., Drozdova, N. A., Esakova, N. V., Zhegallo, E. A., Zhuravlev, A. Yu., Rozanov, A. Yu., Sayutina, T. A., and Ushatinskaya, G. T. 1987. Iskopaemye nizhnego kembriya gor makkenzi (Kanada). [Lower Cambrian fossils from the Mackenzie Mountains (Canada).] Trudy Paleontologicheskogo Instituta, 224:1–89 (in Russian).Google Scholar
Yangeng, Wang, Gongzheng, Yin, Shufang, Zheng, Yi, Qian, et al. 1984 [date of cover 1983]. The Sinian-Cambrian boundary in central, western and northern parts of Guizhou. Bulletin of the Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, 10(Special Issue on the Sinian-Cambrian boundary):91–110 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Wiman, C. 1903. Studien über das Nordbaltische Silurgebeit. I. Olenellussandstein, Obolussandstein und Ceratopygeschiefer. Bulletin of the Geological Institution of the University of Upsala, 6:12–76.Google Scholar
Yongshun, Xie. 1988. Small shelly fossils in Qiongzhusi Stage of Lower Cambrian in Zhenba County, Shaanxi Province. Journal of Chengdu College of Geology, 15:21–29 (in Chinese, with English abstract).Google Scholar
Yusheng, Xing and Zhao, Yue. 1984 [date of cover 1983]. The Sinian-Cambrian boundary in southwestern part of Shaanxi. Bulletin of the Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, 10(Special Issue on the Sinian-Cambrian boundary):111–125 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Wuyang, Xu, Guanrong, Li, and Yunfu, Wu. 1984. Sedimentary facies and paleogeographic feature of early Cambrian phosphorites in Sichuan, p. 123–142. In Symposium of 5th International Field Workshop and Seminar on Phosphorite. Geological Publishing House, Beijing.Google Scholar
Gongzheng, Yin, Yanzen, Wang, and Yi, Qian. 1982. Primary study on Sinian-Cambrian boundary in Guizhou Province. Journal of Stratigraphy, 6:286–293 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Jicheng, Yin, Lainfang, Ding, Tinggui, He, Shilin, Li, and Lijuan, Shen. 1980. The palaeontology and sedimentary environment of the Sinian system in Emei-Ganluo area, Sichuan. People's Republic of China, 231 p. (in Chinese, with English abstract).Google Scholar
Wen, Yu. 1979. Earliest Cambrian monoplacophorans and gastropods from western Hubei with biostratigraphical significance. Acta Palaeontologica Sinica, 18:233–266 (in Chinese, with English abstract).Google Scholar
Kexing, Yuan, and Sengui, Zhang. 1983. Discovery of the Tommotian fauna in SW China. Acta Palaeontologica Sinica, 22:31–40 (in Chinese, with English abstract).Google Scholar
Zhao, Yue. 1987. The discovery of Tannuolina and Lapworthella from Lower Cambrian in Meishucun (Yunnan) and Maidiping (Sichuan) sections. Professional Papers of Stratigraphy and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, 16:173–180 (in Chinese, with English abstract).Google Scholar
Zhao, Yue. 1988. Evolutionary stages of the earliest skeletal fauna and subdivision and correlation of the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary strata. Acta Geologica Sinica (1988):1–16 (in Chinese, with English abstract; English translation in Acta Geologica Sinica, English edition, 1:233–248).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zell, M. G., and Rowell, A. J. 1988. Brachiopods of the Holm Dal Formation (late Middle Cambrian), central North Greenland. Meddelelser om Gr⊘nland, Geoscience, 20:119–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hua, Zhong [Menge, Chen]. 1977. Preliminary study on the ancient fauna of South China and its stratigraphic significance. Scientia Geologica Sinica, 1977:118–128 (in Chinese, with English abstract).Google Scholar