A Middle Ordovician Burgess Shale-type fauna from Castle Bank, Wales (UK)

Botting, Joseph P.; Muir, Lucy A.; Pates, Stephen; McCobb, Lucy M. E.; Wallet, Elise; Willman, Sebastian; Zhang, Yuandong; Ma, Jinshuang

doi:10.1038/s41559-023-02038-4

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…latitude worldwide distribution into a single high latitude Ordovician refuge as a consequence of the increased ecological pressure during the initial series of Early Ordovician radiations preceding the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event [43,44]. Palaeoscolecids appear to have been much less affected by comparison based on their much broader palaeobiogeographic distribution during the Ordovician including Gondwana [21,22,41], Laurentia [42], South China [36][37][38] and Avalonia [23,39,40], which suggests a degree of ecological selectivity in the survival of Early Palaeozoic scalidophorans. It is also possible that the evolutionary trade-off of living in a protective tube but at the cost of greatly reduced motility [4] was a compounding factor for the highly restricted distribution of Ordovician selkirkiids, and possibly even the demise of this mode of life for macroscopic scalidophorans among modern representatives.…”

Section: Discussion (A) Selkirkiid Fossil Record and Spatio-temporal ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the paucity of additional occurrences does not allow us to conclusively determine whether Selkirkia was also distributed in high palaeolatitudes during the Cambrian, or if this pattern is exclusive to younger Ordovician deposits. New discoveries of scalidophoran macrofossils from post-Cambrian marine sites of exceptional preservation, such as those from the Ordovician of Morocco [21,22], China [36][37][38], Wales [23,39,40], Czech Republic [41], and North America [42] are needed to answer this question. The fact that no other selkirkiids have been discovered from these multitude of Ordovician sites with soft tissue preservation worldwide, despite their durable tube construction, suggests that the polar distribution of S. tsering might be legitimate rather than a preservation artefact.…”

Section: Discussion (A) Selkirkiid Fossil Record and Spatio-temporal ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Selkirkiids comprise two genera, Selkirkia which embodies most of the diversity and spatio-temporal distribution of the group [4,18,19], and the controversial Sullulika that is only known from Greenland's Stage 3 Buen Formation [20]. Although selkirkiids represent common infaunal components of BST biotas during the Cambrian thanks to the preservation potential of their robust secreted tubes, these organisms have not been recorded from younger deposits with soft tissue preservation that have produced evidence for scalidophoran macrofossils [21][22][23]. Whether the absence of post-Cambrian tube forming scalidophorans is a legitimate or a taphonomic bias remains unresolved.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Post-Cambrian survival of the tubicolous scalidophoran Selkirkia

Nanglu,

Ortega-Hernández

2024

Biol. Lett.

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Scalidophoran worms represent common infaunal components of early and middle Cambrian Burgess Shale-type fossil biotas. Early scalidophorans resemble extant priapulids based on overall morphology, but the genus Selkirkia represents the earliest record of tube dwelling for the group. Despite its ubiquitous presence in exceptional marine deposits, whether the exclusively Cambrian occurrence of Selkirkia reflects its entire evolutionary history or is affected by taphonomic biases remains unresolved. Here, we demonstrate the post-Cambrian survival of Selkirkia based on new material from the Lower Ordovician Fezouata Shale biota of Morocco. The discovery of Selkirkia in the Fezouata Shale extends the biostratigraphic range of the genus by 25 million years and its palaeobiogeographic occurrence to the high latitudes of Gondwana, strengthens the evolutionary links between Cambrian and Ordovician Burgess Shale-type biotas and increases scalidophoran diversity for the Fezouata Shale biota otherwise consisting exclusively of the palaeoscolecid Palaeoscolex? tenensis . The tube of Selkirkia underwent negligible external change for over 40 million years, indicating a high degree of morphological stasis during the Early Palaeozoic. A tubicolous mode of life is rare among extant priapulids and expressed only in Maccabeus , which forms a delicate tube from agglutinated plant debris, unlike the macroscopic secreted cuticular tube of Selkirkia .

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Section: Discussion (A) Selkirkiid Fossil Record and Spatio-temporal ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussion (A) Selkirkiid Fossil Record and Spatio-temporal ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Post-Cambrian survival of the tubicolous scalidophoran Selkirkia

Nanglu,

Ortega-Hernández

2024

Biol. Lett.

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“…There is also mounting evidence to support at least three distinct arthropods groups that could have targeted Ogygiocarella as prey. (1) The Middle Ordovician (Darriwilian) Castle Bank Biota fauna ( Botting et al, 2023 ) includes a yohoiid-like arthropod that could have attacked these trilobites using raptorial appendages ( Botting et al, 2023 ). (2) Ordovician eurypterids—forms known from Late Ordovician(Sandbian) aged Welsh deposits ( Størmer, 1951 ; Tetlie, 2007 )—have been highlighted as possible, albeit ineffective, predators of trilobites ( Lamsdell et al, 2015 ; Bicknell, Melzer & Schmidt, 2022b ; Schmidt et al, 2022 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Five new malformed trilobites from Cambrian and Ordovician deposits from the Natural History Museum

Bicknell,

Smith

2023

PeerJ

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Injured trilobites present insight into how a completely extinct group of arthropods responded to traumatic experiences, such as failed predation and moulting complications. These specimens are therefore important for more thoroughly understanding the Paleozoic predator-prey systems that involved trilobites. To expand the record of injured trilobites, we present new examples of injured Ogygopsis klotzi and Olenoides serratus from the Campsite Cliff Shale Member of the Burgess Shale Formation (Cambrian, Miaolingian, Wuliuan), Paradoxides (Paradoxides) paradoxissimus gracilis from the Jince Formation (Cambrian, Miaolingian, Drumian), Ogygiocarella angustissima from the Llanfawr Mudstones Formation (Middle–Late Ordovician, Darriwilian–Sandbian), and Ogygiocarella debuchii from the Meadowtown Formation, (Middle–Late Ordovician, Darriwilian–Sandbian). We consider the possible origins of these malformations and conclude that most injuries reflect failed predation. Within this framework, possible predators are presented, and we uncover a marked shift in the diversity of animals that targeted trilobites in the Ordovician. We also collate other records of injured Ogygo. klotzi and Ol. serratus, and Ogygi. debuchii, highlighting that these species are targets for further understanding patterns and records of trilobite injuries.

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Palaeoscolecids from the Ludlow Series of Leintwardine, Herefordshire (UK): the latest occurrence of palaeoscolecids in the fossil record

Howard,

Parry,

Clatworthy

et al. 2024

Papers in Palaeontology

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The documentation of cuticular micro‐ornament is vital for the taxonomic assignment of palaeoscolecids: vermiform lower Palaeozoic ecdysozoans interpreted as stem‐group priapulans or early diverging panarthropods. This is due to the absence of the character‐rich proboscis and tail hooks in palaeoscolecid material not from Burgess Shale‐type Konservat‐Lagerstätten. Here, the cuticular micro‐ornamentation of palaeoscolecids from the upper Silurian (Ludlow) fauna of Leintwardine (Herefordshire, England), is described using scanning electron microscopy and reflectance transformation imaging. This material is taxonomically unstable because it was included in an effective wastebasket genus (Protoscolex) long before these imaging techniques were developed. The Leintwardine material is shown to be most closely comparable to a palaeoscolecid from the Darriwilian (Middle Ordovician) of the Builth–Llandrindod inlier, Powys, Wales, and is transferred accordingly to Radnorscolex Botting et al. as Radnorscolex latus (Bather). The Leintwardine fauna represents the uppermost stratigraphic occurrence of palaeoscolecids, constrained to the Saetograptus leintwardinensis Zone (lower Ludfordian), and the comparatively sparse Silurian palaeoscolecid record is subsequently discussed. It is hypothesized that palaeoscolecids may have become extinct during the mid‐Ludfordian Lau Event, the onset of which is recorded in the biozone immediately above the Leintwardine fauna (Bohemograptus Zone). Finally, the British palaeoscolecid fauna is summarized, including a new record from the Dapingian (Middle Ordovician) of Carmarthenshire, South Wales.

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A Middle Ordovician Burgess Shale-type fauna from Castle Bank, Wales (UK)

Cited by 4 publications

References 46 publications

Post-Cambrian survival of the tubicolous scalidophoran Selkirkia

Post-Cambrian survival of the tubicolous scalidophoran Selkirkia

Five new malformed trilobites from Cambrian and Ordovician deposits from the Natural History Museum

Palaeoscolecids from the Ludlow Series of Leintwardine, Herefordshire (UK): the latest occurrence of palaeoscolecids in the fossil record

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