Ziyang Fauna: A slope facies fossil lagerst&amp;auml;tte of Early Ordovician in South China

Caryocaridids are a unique representative of pelagic arthropods from the Ordovician period. They are typically found as flattened carapaces in mudstones and shales. This study reports on a species of caryocaridids, Soomicaris cedarbergensis, discovered in the Lower Ordovician of northwestern Xinjiang, NW China. The species shows the rare enrolled carapaces with a preserved cuticular ultrastructure. These specimens of caryocaridids from Xinjiang are the first reported in the Yili Block, and provide the substantial evidence that the paleogeographic distribution of caryocaridid phyllocarids could extend to the Central Asian Orogenic Belt. This species existed from the late Tremadocian until the end of the Ordovician (Hirnantian), making it the longest-ranging known species of caryocaridids. The carapace cuticle of S. cedarbergensis is composed of carbonate-fluorapatite and can be divided into three mineralized lamellae: outer, middle, and inner. The outer and inner lamellae each consist of three layers that correspond to the epicuticle, exocuticle, and endocuticle of extant crustacean carapaces. Moreover, the polygonal reticulation structure of the carapace in archaeostracans appears to be similar in shape and size to the hemolymph sinuses of leptostracans. This unique ultrastructure of the carapace cuticle in caryocaridids is believed to be better suited for a pelagic lifestyle.

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Early Ordovician Seleneceme (Trilobita) in Ziyang Fauna, South China

Wang

Hong

Wang

et al. 2022

Historical Biology

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Ziyang Fauna: A slope facies fossil lagerstätte of Early Ordovician in South China

Cited by 4 publications

References 1 publication

First complete Niobe yangtzeensis Lu, 1975 (Asaphidae, Trilobita) from the Middle Ordovician of South China, and its systematic and palaeogeographic implications

First complete Niobe yangtzeensis Lu, 1975 (Asaphidae, Trilobita) from the Middle Ordovician of South China, and its systematic and palaeogeographic implications

Ultrastructural evidence shows adaptation to a pelagic lifestyle in Ordovician caryocaridids (Crustacea: phyllocarida)

Early Ordovician Seleneceme (Trilobita) in Ziyang Fauna, South China

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