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Identification of chitin in 200-million-year-old gastropod egg capsules

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2016

Marcin Wysokowski ,
Michał Zatoń ,
Vasilii V. Bazhenov ,
Thomas Behm ,
Andre Ehrlich ,
Allison L. Stelling ,
Martin Hog  and
Hermann Ehrlich
Marcin Wysokowski
Affiliation:
Poznań University of Technology, Institute of Chemical Technology and Engineering, M. Skłodowskiej-Curie 2, PL-60965 Poznan, Poland
Michał Zatoń*
Affiliation:
University of Silesia, Faculty of Earth Sciences, Department of Paleontology and Stratigraphy, Będzińska 60, PL-41-200 Sosnowiec, Poland. E-mail: mzaton@wnoz.us.edu.pl
Vasilii V. Bazhenov
Affiliation:
TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Institute of Experimental Physics, Leipziger Straße 23, 09599 Freiberg, Germany. E-mail: hermann.ehrlich@physik.tu-freiberg.de
Thomas Behm
Affiliation:
TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Institute of Experimental Physics, Leipziger Straße 23, 09599 Freiberg, Germany. E-mail: hermann.ehrlich@physik.tu-freiberg.de
Andre Ehrlich
Affiliation:
TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Institute of Mineralogy, Brennhausgaße 14, 09599 Freiberg, Germany
Allison L. Stelling
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Duke University, 90300 Hudson Hall, Durham, North Carolina 27708, U.S.A.
Martin Hog
Affiliation:
TU Dresden, Institute of Bioanalytical Chemistry, Helmholtzstraße 10, 01069 Dresden, Germany
Hermann Ehrlich*
Affiliation:
TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Institute of Experimental Physics, Leipziger Straße 23, 09599 Freiberg, Germany. E-mail: hermann.ehrlich@physik.tu-freiberg.de
*
∗Corresponding authors.
∗Corresponding authors.
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Abstract

Chitin occurs in a variety of invertebrates, especially in arthropod cuticles, but is rarely reported in the fossil record. Although it has been detected in fossils as old as Middle Cambrian and Silurian, the majority of records come from much younger, Cenozoic deposits. In this paper, we report the preservation of chitin in Early Jurassic neritimorph gastropod egg capsules deposited in bivalve shells from prodelta-deltafront and nearshore paleoenvironments of the Holy Cross Mountains, Poland. We used a number of analytical methods to confirm the presence of chitin preserved in these ancient fossils. This is the first record of chitin preservation in Mesozoic deposits that, interestingly, do not follow the conventional Konservat-Lagerstätten manner of preserving soft-bodied and non-biomineralized organisms. We believe that deltaic settings characterized by episodic, high input of fluvial deposits, oligohaline conditions, and oxygen-poor microenvironment within the sediment—as well as early cementation of sediment infilling the shells—were crucial for chitin preservation. The preservation of chitin in such recalcitrant structures as egg capsules and deposits that formed outside conventional Konservat-Lagerstätten conditions renders it likely similar deposits may yield promise for discoveries of similar biological macromolecules.

Type
Articles
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 40 , Issue 4 , Fall 2014 , pp. 529 - 540
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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References

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