Olenid trilobites: The oldest known chemoautotrophic symbionts?

Fortey, Richard A.

doi:10.1073/pnas.97.12.6574

Cited by 62 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Aulacopleura koninckii belongs to the "olenimorphic" trilobite morphotype that is considered specifically adapted for life in conditions of relatively low oxygen availability (Fortey 2000). This morphotype is characterized by segment rich thoraces with laterally extended pleurae, thin exoskeletons and, while including many representatives of the order Olenida, also includes other trilobites such as Aulacopleura (Fortey & Owens 1990, p. 140).…”

Section: B Amentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Gaines & Droser (2003) interpreted E. kingii to be an evolutionarily early occupant of the exaerobic zone of Savrda and Bottjer (1987), which is located at the interface of dysoxic to anoxic conditions, and inferred that the species may have fed on sulphur reducing bacteria. A further possibility is harvesting such bacteria in a chemosymbiotic relationship, as inferred by Fortey (2000) for the olenid trilobite Triarthrus.…”

Section: B Amentioning

confidence: 99%

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The depositional environment and taphonomy of the Homerian “Aulacopleura shales” fossil assemblage near Loděnice, Czech Republic (Prague Basin, Perunican microcontinent)

Hughes¹,

Kříž²,

Macquaker³

et al. 2014

Bull. Geosci.

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Excavation of Joachim Barrande's classic fossil locality of the "Aulacopleura shales" exposed on Na Černidlech Hill, near Loděnice reveals that most specimens were recovered from a 1.4 m interval exposed in "Barrande's pits". These are located at the eastern end of a 0.4 km trench dug in the mid 1800's to expose the interval along strike. Over an hundred bedding planes occur within the 1.4 m interval, and thousands of articulated trilobites have been collected at the site. Individual bed surfaces vary in the density, size, and taxonomic composition of the fossils contained. Some preserve a diverse benthic shelly fauna, others are almost exclusively dominated by the trilobite Aulacopleura koninckii, and a third variety is apparently barren of all shelly fossils. Isolated sclerites of A. koninckii are rare, and on almost all bedding surfaces exoskeletons are predominantly partially articulated and lack both alignment and sclerite fragmentation. The occurrence of A. koninckii conforms in many ways to the characteristics of a Type I trilobite lagerstätte of Brett et al. (2012). The presence of enrolled A. koninckii suggests that final burial may have resulted from relatively rapid obrution, although the condition of partial articulation indicates that many carcasses or exuviae partially disaggregated before burial. The mean size and density of A. koninckii specimens varies markedly among bedding planes, with some assemblages entirely comprised of juveniles, suggesting that notably dense trilobite clustering was not restricted only to reproductively mature individuals. The presence of multiple clusters of different mean specimen size partly accounts from the unusually comprehensive record of the articulated meraspid and holaspid ontogeny of this species at this locality. Limited bioturbation suggests a dysoxic substrate, and the olenimorphic form and distribution of A. koninckii, combined with a lack of encrustation or predation upon it, suggests that this species may have periodically bloomed in abundance at particular oxygen concentrations that largely excluded other skeletonized benthos. Some bedding plane assemblages might represent mass mortality events, perhaps as available oxygen passed below levels necessary to maintain the metabolism of A. koninckii. •

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Section: B Amentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: B Amentioning

confidence: 99%

The depositional environment and taphonomy of the Homerian “Aulacopleura shales” fossil assemblage near Loděnice, Czech Republic (Prague Basin, Perunican microcontinent)

Hughes¹,

Kříž²,

Macquaker³

et al. 2014

Bull. Geosci.

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“…Such beds sharply overlie beds of high faunal richness and can be interpreted as flooding surfaces (see below). Triarthrus behaves as an opportunistic species adapted preferentially to oxygen-deficient and perhaps deeper-water environments comparable to other olenids and Elrathia (Fortey, 2000;Gaines and Droser, 2003). The common association of these trilobites with protobranch bivalves indicates that these facies represent lower dysoxic environments, in which minor shallow burrowing was still possible.…”

Section: Facies and Environments Of The Collingwood Member Dark Gray mentioning

confidence: 94%

Sedimentology, Taphonomy, and Paleoecology of Meter-Scale Cycles From the Upper Ordovician of Ontario

Brett¹,

Allison²,

Tsujita³

et al. 2006

PALAIOS

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The Upper Ordovician (Caradoc) Collingwood Member of the Lindsay Formation, southern Ontario, Canada, is a strikingly cyclic package of clastics and carbonates. Cycles are 50-150 cm thick and comprise four major components: (1) dark gray to black, organic-rich, laminated shales that grade upsection into (2) dark to light gray calcareous shales or mudstones, (3) lenticular to tabular concretionary argillaceous limestones, and typically (4) light gray calcareous, fossiliferous mudstones or shales and marls. Black shale units have a characteristically sharp basal contact and overlie a condensed shelly pavement. Fossil in shales are preserved as pavements or stringers of trilobite, ostracode, and brachiopod debris, with strong taphonomic bias as a result of prolonged exposure at the sediment-water interface. Gray mudstones and marls are bioturbated and contain numerous low-diversity orthid brachiopod pavements. Persistent tabular concretionary limestone bands were formed by early diagenetic cementation. These concretionary units include shelly beds that alternate with less fossiliferous calcareous mudstones containing noncompressed, spar-filled burrows and articulated, sometimes in situ fossils. Variation in fossil abundance is the result of cyclic variation in sedimentation, ranging from periods of condensation to rapid burial.Collingwood cycles involve upsection changes including: (1) benthic oxygenation from lower dysoxic to fully oxic biofacies, (2) increased frequency and episodicity of sedimentation, (3) higher net sedimentation rate within gray mudstone to carbonate intervals, (4) increased environmental energy level, and (5) diagenetic cementation of muds a few centimeters below cycle tops. Consistency of these variations suggests an allocyclic mechanism for the Collingwood cycles related to short-term fluctuations in eustatic sea level or climate.

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“…The strong dominance of olenids in sea-floor environments that were poor in oxygen but rich in sulphur suggested to Fortey (2000) that they may have been chemoautotrophic symbionts. However, Farrell et al (2011) present arguments against such an interpretation.…”

Section: Baltoscandiamentioning

confidence: 96%

Trilobites and biofacies in the Early–Middle Ordovician of Baltica and a brief comparison with the Yangtze Plate

Bergström¹,

Paernaste²,

Zhou³

2011

Estonian J. Earth Sci.

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Baltica except for Baltoscandia was subject to an early Tremadocian immigration of trilobites similar to that on other plates. In Baltoscandia the Olenid biofacies lingered on until it was replaced by the late Tremadocian Ceratopyge biofacies. For the rest of the time (Floian to mid-Darriwilian), Baltoscandia had fairly monotonous lithologies and faunas, constituting a single Asaphid biofacies with lateral variations expressed as differences largely in the relative abundance of species. In the South Urals immigration started in the earliest Tremadocian with fairly rich deep-water faunas. A poorer fauna is known from the Polar Urals. A slightly younger, sparse fauna is known from Paj-Khoj. Over most of the Ural border north of the South Urals there was a further development of first a Ceratopyge biofacies, then an eastern Asaphid biofacies, together with more siliciclastic input to the lithofacies and with fewer asaphids than in Baltoscandia. In the South Urals there was a development in the Darriwilian of a Cheirurid biofacies following the Ceratopyge biofacies. By contrast, the shelf part of the South China Plate shows a development of fifteen biofacies distinguished on the genus level, and the number of species for each biofacies is notably small. The major difference in the pattern of distribution of the biofacies probably reflects the faunal development in rather different climatic conditions, suggesting that the Yangtze block is supposedly positioned rather distant from Baltica, but still close enough to share genera inhabiting the outer shelf

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Olenid trilobites: The oldest known chemoautotrophic symbionts?

Cited by 62 publications

References 22 publications

The depositional environment and taphonomy of the Homerian “Aulacopleura shales” fossil assemblage near Loděnice, Czech Republic (Prague Basin, Perunican microcontinent)

The depositional environment and taphonomy of the Homerian “Aulacopleura shales” fossil assemblage near Loděnice, Czech Republic (Prague Basin, Perunican microcontinent)

Sedimentology, Taphonomy, and Paleoecology of Meter-Scale Cycles From the Upper Ordovician of Ontario

Trilobites and biofacies in the Early–Middle Ordovician of Baltica and a brief comparison with the Yangtze Plate

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