Ontogeny, morphology and pedicle attachment of stenothecoids from the middle Cambrian of North Greenland (Laurentia)

 

Authors: Peel JS

Published in: Bulletin of Geosciences, volume 96, issue 4; pages: 381 - 399; Received 11 July 2021; Accepted in revised form 27 August 2021; Online 26 September 2021

Keywords: Cambrian, Wuliuan Stage, Stenothecoida, ontogeny, pedicle, North Greenland, Laurentia,

full text (PDF, 6.23 MB)

Export to RIS

 

Abstract

The bivalved calcareous shells of stenothecoids are generally both inequilateral and inequivalve. They occur in lower and middle Cambrian strata from Laurentia, Siberia, Kazakhstan and China, but their affinities are unresolved. Contemporary workers favour assignment as a separate class of Mollusca or within the stem-group of Brachiopoda. The latter is supported by the present description of pedicle attachment in stenothecoids from the Henson Gletscher Formation (Miaolingian Series, Wuliuan Stage) of North Greenland. Described material from Greenland is mainly preserved as internal moulds showing a high degree of variability that frustrates comparisons with assemblages from other localities and horizons, but provides insight into central features of stenothecoid morphology. Curvature of individual valves is shown to be an unreliable morphological indicator in the North Greenland sample. Early juveniles of Stenothecoides are described confirming the development of a transverse tooth in the interior of the ventral valve throughout ontogeny. A pitted structure near the apex of juvenile internal moulds is interpreted as the scar of a fibrous pedicle attaching the ventral valve to the substrate. Frondose impressions on the shell interior, previously considered to be characteristic of Bagenovia, are described in Stenothecoides. Multiple median scars on the dorsal valve characteristic of Stenothecella (Cambrian Stage 4) are also described in the Wuliuan material from North Greenland. New species: Stenothecoides terraglaciei sp. nov.

References

Aksarina, N.A. 1968. Probivalvia - a new class of ancient molluscs, 77-86. Novye dannye po geologii i poleznym iskopaemym zapadnoi Sibiri 3, 77-86. [in Russian]

Aksarina, N.A. & Pelman, Yu.L. 1978. Cambrian brachiopods and bivalve molluscs of Siberia. Trudy Akademiya Nauk SSSR, Sibirskoy otdelenie 362, 1-178. [in Russian]

Bengtson, S. 2004. Early skeletal fossils, 67-77. In Lipps, J.H. & Waggoner, B.M. (eds) Neoproterozoic-Cambrian biological revolutions. The Paleontological Society Papers 10.

Bengtson, S., Conway Morris, S., Cooper, B.J., Jell, P.A. & Runnegar, B.N. 1990. Early Cambrian fossils from South Australia. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists 9, 1-364.

Blaker, M.R. & Peel, J.S. 1997. Lower Cambrian trilobites from North Greenland. Meddelelser om Gronland, Geoscience 35, 1-145.

Bouchet, P., Rocroi, J.-P., Hausdorf, B., Kaim, A., Kano, Y., Nützel, A., Parkhaev, P., Schrödl, M. & Strong, E.E. 2017. Revised classification, nomenclator and typification of gastropod and monoplacophoran families. Malacologia 61, 1-526.View article

Briggs, D.E.G., Erwin, D.H. & Collier, F.J. 1994. The fossils of the Burgess Shale. 238 pp. Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC.

Bromley, R.G. & Surlyk, F. 1973. Borings produced by brachiopod pedicles, fossil and Recent. Lethaia 6, 349-365.View article

Clausen, S. & Peel, J.S. 2012. Middle Cambrian echinoderm remains from the Henson Gletcher Formation of North Greenland. GFF 134, 173-200.View article

Devaere, L., Clausen, S., Álvaro, J.J., Peel, J.S. & Vachard, D. 2014. Terreneuvian orthothecid (Hyolitha) digestive tracts from Northern Montagne Noire, France; taphonomic, ontogenetic and phylogenetic implications. PLoS ONE 9(2), e88583.View article

Dzik, J. 2010. Brachiopod identity of the alleged monoplacophoran ancestors of cephalopods. Malacologia 52, 97-113.View article

Elicki, O. & Gürsu, S. 2009. First record of Pojetaia runnegari Jell, 1980 and Fordilla Barrande, 1881 from the Middle East (Taurus Mountains, Turkey) and critical review of Cambrian bivalves. Paläontolologische Zeitschrift 83, 267-291.View article

Esakova, N.V. & Zhegallo, E.A. 1996. Biostratigraphy and fauna of the Lower Cambrian of Mongolia. Trudy Sovmestnoj Sovetsko-Mongol’skoj Paleontologischeskoj Ehkspeditsii 46, 1-216. [in Russian]

Geyer, G. & Peel, J.S. 2011. The Henson Gletscher Formation, North Greenland, and its bearing on the global Cambrian Series 2-Series 3 boundary. Bulletin of Geosciences 86, 465-534.View article

Hicks, H. 1872. On some undescribed fossils from the Menevian Group of Wales. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 27, 41-42.View article

Higgins, A.K., Ineson, J.R., Peel, J.S., Surlyk, F. & Sonderholm, M. 1991. Lower Palaeozoic Franklinian Basin of North Greenland. Gronlands Geologiske Undersogelse Bulletin 160, 71-139.View article

Hinz-Schallreuter, I. 1993. Cambrian ostracodes mainly from Baltica and Morocco. Archiv für Geschiebekunde 1, 385-448.

Holmer, L.E. & Caron, J.-B. 2006. A spinose stem group brachiopod with pedicle from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale. Acta Zoologica 87, 273¬-290.View article

Holmer, L.E., Skovsted, C.B., Brock, G.A., Valentine, J.L. & Paterson, J.R. 2008. The Early Cambrian tommotiid Micrina, a sessile bivalved stem group brachiopod. Biology Letters 1, 724¬-728.View article

Horný, R.J. 1957. Problematic molluscs (?Amphineura) from the Lower Cambrian of southern and eastern Siberia (U.S.S.R.). Sborník Ústředního Ústavu Geologického, oddíl paleontologický 23, 397-432.

Horný, R.J. 1963. Lower Paleozoic Monoplacophora and patellid Gastropoda (Mollusca) of Bohemia. Sborník Ústředního Ústavu Geologického, oddíl paleontologický 28, 7-84.

Hou, X., Siveter, D.J., Siveter, D.J., Aldridge, R.J., Cong, P., Gabbott, S.E., MA, X., Purnell, M.A. & Williams, M. 2017. The Cambrian fossils of Chengjiang, China: The flowering of early animal life. 2nd edition. 316 pp. Wiley, Oxford.View article

Ineson, J.R. & Peel, J.S. 1997. Cambrian shelf stratigraphy of North Greenland. Geology of Greenland Survey Bulletin 173, 1-120.View article

Jell, P.A. 1980. Earliest known bivalve on Earth-A new Early Cambrian genus from South Australia. Alcheringa 4, 233-239.View article

Johnston, P.A. 2019. Morphology and relationships of Cambrian Stenothecoida. Geological Society of Hubei, Academic exchanges, Academic reports, online presentation. http://www.hbsdzxh.com.cn/html/dzxh/news/2019/06/10/19061014395911700001.html

Johnston, P.A., Streng, M. & Virmani, N. 2017. New observations on the enigmatic Cambrian Stenothecoida. Abstract 26th Canadian Paleontology Conference, Calgary, Proceedings 14, 18.

Koneva, S.P. 1976. New members of the Class Stenothecoida from the Lower Cambrian of central Kazakhstan. Paleontogical Journal 2, 230-233.

Koneva, S.P. 1979a. Stenothecoids and inarticulate brachiopods of the Lower Cambrian and basal Middle Cambrian of central Kazakhstan. Trudy Geologii Instituta, Akademiya Nauk SSSR, Kazakhstanskoy otdelenie, 1-123. [in Russian]

Koneva, S.P. 1979b. Cambrian stenothecoids from Maly Karatau and Tamdytia. Paleontologicheskiy Zhurnal 1, 44-51. [in Russian]

Korovnikov, I.V., Novozhilova, N.V. & Tokarev, D.A. 2018. Distribution of Atdabanian (Early Cambrian) trilobites, archaeocyaths, and Small Shelly Fossils in the Altai-Sayan Folded Area. Paleontological Journal 52, 1481-1493.View article

Kouchinsky A.V. 2000. Mollusks, hyoliths, stenothecoids, and coeloscleritophorans, 326-349. In Zhuravlev, A.Yu. & Riding, R. (eds) The ecology of the Cambrian radiation. Columbia University Press, New York, NY.View article

Li, G., Zhang, Z., Hua, H. & Yang, H. 2014. Occurrence of the enigmatic bivalved fossil Apistoconcha in the Lower Cambrian of Southeast Shaanxi, North China Platform. Journal of Paleontology 88, 359-366.View article

Lindström, G. 1884. On the Silurian Gastropoda and Pteropoda of Gotland. Kungliga Svenska Vetenskaps Akademiens Handlingar 19, 1-250.View article

Liu, F., Skovsted, C.B., Topper, T.P., Zhang, Z. & Shu, D. 2020. Are hyoliths Palaeozoic lophophorates? National Science Review 7, 453-469.View article

Maas, A., Waloszek, D. & Müller, K.J. 2003. Morphology, ontogeny and phylogeny of the Phosphatocopina (Crustacea) from the Upper Cambrian “Orsten” of Sweden. Fossils and Strata 49, 1-238.

McMenamin, M.A.S. 2020. Bradoriids (Arthropoda) and the Cambrian diversification. Geosciences 10, 119.View article

Palmer, A.R. 1954. An appraisal of the Great Basin Middle Cambrian trilobites described before 1900. United States Geological Survey Professional Paper 264-D, 53-86.View article

Parkhaev, P.Yu. 1998. Siphonoconcha - a new class of Early Cambrian bivalved organisms. Paleontological Journal 32, 1-15.

Peel, J.S. 1977. Relationship and internal structure of a new Pilina (Monoplacophora) from the late Ordovician of Oklahoma. Journal of Paleontology 51, 116-122.

Peel, J.S. 1988. Molluscs of the Holm Dal Formation (late Middle Cambrian), central North Greenland. Meddelelser om Gronland, Geoscience 20, 145-168.

Peel, J.S. 2021a. An outer shelf shelly fauna from Cambrian Series 2 (Stage 4) of North Greenland (Laurentia). Journal of Paleontology 95, Memoir 83, 1-¬41.View article

Peel, J.S. 2021b. Pseudomyona from the Cambrian of North Greenland (Laurentia) and the early evolution of bivalved molluscs. Bulletin of Geosciences 96, 195-215.View article

Peel, J.S., Streng, M., Geyer, G., Kouchinsky, A. & Skovsted, C.B. 2016. Ovatoryctocara granulata assemblage (Cambrian Series 2-Series 3 boundary) of Londal, North Greenland. Australasian Palaeontological Memoirs 49, 241-282.

Pelman, Yu.L. 1976. Early-Middle Cambrian stentothecoids and new skeletal remains of unclear systematic position of ther stratigraphic district of Aldan and Lena. Trudy Instituta geologii i geofiziki, Akademiya Nauk SSSR, Sibirskoy otdelenie 296, 176-179.

Pelman, Yu.L. 1985. New stenothecoids from the Lower Cambrian of western Mongolia. Trudy Instituta geologii i geofiziki, Akademiya Nauk SSSR, Sibirskoy otdelenie 632, 103-114.

Pojeta, J., jr & Runnegar, B. 1976. The paleontology of rostroconch mollusks and the early history of the phylum Mollusca. United States Geological Survey Professional Paper 968, 1-88.View article

Ponder, W.F., Lindberg, D.R. & Ponder, J.M. 2020. Biology and evolution of the Mollusca, Volume 2. 870 pp. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida.View article

Poulsen, C. 1932. The Lower Cambrian faunas of east Greenland. Meddelelser om Gronland 87(6), 1-66.

Radugin, K.V. 1937. On the relations of the Cambrian and Precambrian in the Gornaya Shoria. Problems in Soviet Geology 7, 295-317. [in Russian]

Rasetti, F. 1954. Internal shell structures in the Middle Cambrian gastropod Scenella and the problematic genus Stenothecoides. Journal of Paleontology 28, 59-66.

Rasetti, F. 1957. Additional fossils from the Middle Cambrian Mt. Whyte Formation of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Journal of Paleontology 31, 955-972.

Resser, C.E. 1938. Fourth contribution to nomenclature of Cambrian fossils. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 97(l0), 1-43.

Richardson, J.R. 1979. Pedicle structure of articulate brachiopods, Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand 9, 415-436.View article

Robinson, J.H. & Lee, D.E. 2008. Brachiopod pedicle traces: recognition of three separate types of trace and redefinition of Podichnus centrifugalis Bromley & Surlyk, 1973. Fossils and Strata 54, 219-225.

Robison, R.A. 1964. Late Middle Cambrian faunas from western Utah. Journal of Paleontology 38, 510-566.

Robison, R.A. 1994. Agnostoid trilobites from the Henson Gletscher and Kap Stanton formations (Middle Cambrian), North Greenland. Bulletin Gronlands Geologiske Undersogelse 169, 25-77.View article

Rozanov, A.Yu. & Zhuravlev, A.Yu. 1992. The Lower Cambrian fossil record of the Soviet Union, 205-282. In Lipps, J.H. & Signor, P.W. (eds) Origin and early evolution of the Metazoa. Plenum Press, New York.View article

Rozov, S.N. 1984. Stenothecoids morphology, terminology and systematical position, Trudy Instituta geologii i geofiziki, Akademiya Nauk SSSR, Sibirskoy otdelenie 597, 117-133. [in Russian]

Runnegar, B. 1985. Shell microstructures of Cambrian molluscs replicated by phosphate. Alcheringa 9, 245-257.View article

Santos, A., Mayoral, E., Villas, E., Herrera, Z. & Ortega, G. 2014. First record of Podichnus in orthide brachiopods from the Lower Ordovician (Tremadocian) of NW Argentina and its relation to the early use of an ethological strategy. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 399, 67-77.View article

Skovsted, C.B. 2006. Small shelly fauna from the upper Lower Cambrian Bastion and Ella Island Formations, North-East Greenland. Journal of Paleontology 80, 1087-1112.View article

Sun, H., Smith, M.R., Zeng, H., Zhao, F., Li, G. & Zhu, M. 2018. Hyoliths with pedicles illuminate the origin of the brachiopod body plan. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 285, 20181780. View article

Sytchev, I.A. 1960. Phylum Mollusca: Mollusks, Class Lamellibranchiata; pelecypods, Paleozoic biostratigraphy of the Sayano-Altai Mountain region, vol. 1, Lower Paleozoic. Trudy SNIGGIMS 19, 253-256 [in Russian]

Trueman, E.R. 1969. Ligament, 58-64. In MOORE, R.C. & TEICHERT, C. (eds) Treatise on invertebrate paleontology, Part N, Mollusca 6, Bivalvia, Volume 1. Geological Society of America and University of Kansas, Boulder and Lawrence.

Vendrasco, M.J., Porter, S.M., Kouchinsky, A., LI, G. & Fernandez, C.Z. 2010. New data on molluscs and their shell microstructures from the Middle Cambrian Gowers Formation, Australia. Palaeontology 53, 97-135.View article

Vendrasco, M.J., Checa, A.G. & Kouchinsky, A.V. 2011a. Shell microstructure of the early clam Pojetaia and the independent origin of nacre within the Mollusca. Palaeontology 54, 825-850.View article

Vendrasco, M.J., Kouchinsky, A.V., Porter, S.M. & Fernandez, C.Z. 2011b. Phylogeny and escalation in Mellopegma and other Cambrian molluscs. Palaeontologia Electronica 14, 1-44.

Voronin, Yu.I., Voronova, L.G., Grigoreva, N.V., Drozdova, N.A., Zhegallo, E.A., Zhuravlev, A.YU., Ragozina, A.L., Rozanov, A.Yu., Sayutina, T.A., Sysoev, V.A. & Fonin, V.D. 1982. The Precambrian-Cambrian boundary in the geosynclinal areas (the reference section of SalanyGol, MPR). Trudy Sovmestnoj sovetsko-mongol’skoj paleontologischeskoj ekspedicii 18. 150 pp. Nauka, Moscow. [in Russian]

Walcott, C.D. 1884. Paleontology of the Eureka District. United States Geological Survey Monograph 8, 1-298.View article

Waller, T.R. 1998. Origin of the molluscan Class Bivalvia and a phylogeny of major groups, 1-45. In Johnston, P.A. & Haggart, J.W. (eds) Bivalves: An eon of evolution: Paleobiological studies honouring Norman D. Newell. University of Calgary Press, Calgary.

Williams, A. 1997. Shell structure, 267-320. In Kaesler, R.L. (ed.) Treatise on invertebrate paleontology, Part H, Brachiopoda, Revised, Volume 1: Introduction. Geological Society of America and University of Kansas, Boulder and Lawrence.

Williams, A., James, M.A., Emig, C.C., Mackay, S. & Rhodes, M.C. 1997. Pedicle, 60-69. In Kaesler, R.L. (ed.) Treatise on invertebrate paleontology, Part H, Brachiopoda, Revised, Volume 1: Introduction. Geological Society of America and University of Kansas, Boulder and Lawrence.

Williams, M., Siveter, D.J., Popov, L.E. & Vannier, J.C. 2007. Biogeography and affinities of the bradoriid arthropods: Cosmopolitan microbenthos of the Cambrian seas. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 248, 202-232.View article

Yochelson, E.L. 1968 Stenothecoida, a proposed new class of Cambrian Mollusca. Abstracts International Palaeontological Union, Prague, Czechoslovakia, August 20-27, 1968, 34.

Yochelson, E.L. 1969. Stenothecoida, a proposed new class of Cambrian Mollusca. Lethaia 2, 49-62.View article

Yu, W. 1996. Early Cambrian stenothecoid molluscs from China. Records of the Western Australia Museum 18, 209-217.

Zhang, X.-G. 2007. Phosphatized bradoriids (Arthropoda) from the Cambrian of China. Palaeontographica, Abteilung A 281, 93-173.View article

Zhang, Z.-F, Li, G.-X., Holmer, L.E., Brock, G.A., Balthasar, U., Skovsted, C.B., Fu, D.-J., Zhang, X.-L., Wang, H.-Z., Butler, A., Zhang, Z.-L., Cao, C.-Q., Han, J., Liu, J.-N. & Shu, D. 2014. An early Cambrian agglutinated tubular lophophorate with brachiopod characters. Scientific Reports 4, 4682.View article

Zhuravlev, A.Yu. 2015. The early history of the Metazoa - a paleontologist’s viewpoint. Biology Bulletin Reviews 5(5), 414-461.View article