The first Furongian (late Cambrian) echinoderm from the British Isles

Abstract

Furongian (late Cambrian) echinoderms are extremely rare in the fossil record and only two previous reports have been described from the Paibian Stage worldwide. Here, the third occurrence of an echinoderm from the Paibian, and the first ever reported in the Furongian of Britain is presented. It is a primitive pelmatozoan which shows intermediate characteristics between eocrinoids with columnalbearing stems and primitive glyptocystitid rhombiferans. The palaeobiogeographic affinities of Cambrian echinoderm faunas from Britain, eastern Avalonia, are shown to be with Gondwana.

A new stemmed echinoderm from the Furongian of China and the origin of Glyptocystitida (Blastozoa, Echinodermata)

“…The Furongian echinoderm record is critical because many Ordovician clades appear to have roots during that time. Unfortunately, the latest Cambrian echinoderm fossil record is very patchy with only few localities worldwide providing articulated specimens (Sprinkle, 1973; Jell, Burrett & Banks, 1985; Dzik & Orłowski, 1993; Sumrall, Sprinkle & Guensburg, 1997; Ubaghs, 1998; Zamora, 2012; Zamora et al 2013). The Furongian-age Sanducystis displays a morphology that links the stemmed echinoderm Furongian Ridersia and more derived Glyptocystitida, providing a deep root for the glyptocystitoid body plan and helping to define character evolution for the clade.…”

New discoveries of Cambrian pelmatozoan echinoderm ossicles from North China

“…Furongian (upper Cambrian) records of complete pelmatozoan echinoderms are rare (Zamora, 2012;Zamora et al, 2013a). There are examples from South China (Han and Chen, 2008;Zamora et al, 2013b), Australia (Jell et al, 1985), Poland (Dzik and Orłowski, 1993), France (Ubaghs, 1999), Spain (Zamora et al, 2009), and Wales (Zamora, 2012), but there are no formal reports from the North China Craton.…”

“…There are examples from South China (Han and Chen, 2008;Zamora et al, 2013b), Australia (Jell et al, 1985), Poland (Dzik and Orłowski, 1993), France (Ubaghs, 1999), Spain (Zamora et al, 2009), and Wales (Zamora, 2012), but there are no formal reports from the North China Craton. Studies of isolated echinoderm ossicles are increasingly providing useful information on the Cambrian faunas, and several important papers on disarticulated material provide essential background in understanding Cambrian echinoderms (e.g., Sumrall et al, 1997;Clausen and Smith, 2008;Clausen et al, 2009;Zamora et al, 2010Zamora et al, , 2013aClausen and Peel, 2012).…”

New long-stemmed eocrinoid from the Furongian Point Peak Shale Member of the Wilberns Formation, central Texas

“…Furongian echinoderms are rare world-wide (Zamora et al, 2013). The few known examples suggest that stemmed echinoderms in soft siliciclastic substrates were dominated by free-living forms that include likely precursors of glyptocystitoid rhombiferans (Jell et al, 1985; Ubaghs, 1998; Dzik and Orłowski, 1993; Zamora, 2012). However, in proximal carbonate environments, stemmed echinoderms were dominated by trachelocrinids and other columnal-bearing eocrinoids that lived permanently attached to stabilized substrates, skeletal debris, or intraformational conglomeratic clasts (i.e.…”