The Lower Cambrian Fossil Record of the Soviet Union

Microfossils from the Neoproterozoic Gangolihat Formation, Kumaun Lesser Himalaya: Their stratigraphic and evolutionary significance

“…During the Cambrian radiation, sponges evolved a variety of architectural forms which are not observed in later periods. Hexactinellid sponge spicules are also reported from deposit of Mid NemakitDaldynian to Tommotian age (Rigby, 1987;Ding and Qian, 1988;Rozanov and Zhuravlev, 1992;Steiner et al, 1993;Brasier, 1992;Brasier et al, 1993;Qian, 1999) and Demosponges are recorded during the Atdabanian (Bengtson et al, 1990;Rozanov and Zhuravlev, 1992;Zhang and Pratt, 1994;Reitner and Mehl, 1995). In India, sponge spicules of Cambrian affinity are reported from Lolab Formation of northwestern Kashmir (Tiwari, 1997) and also from chertphosphorite member of Tal Formation which is equivalent to Nemakit -Daldynian to Early Tommotian age (Mazumdar and Banerjee, 1998;Tiwari, 1999).…”

A bradoriid and brachiopod dominated shelly fauna from the Furongian (Cambrian) of Västergötland, Sweden

“…It was also reported from the upper portion of Bed 14 of the Pestrotsvet Formation, Isit section, middle Lena River, from the middle Dokidocyathus lenaicus Zone of the Tommotian Stage (Sokolov and Zhuravleva 1983;Rozanov and Sokolov 1984;Brasier 1989a;Rozanov and Zhuravlev 1992;Shabanov et al 2008). The latter occurrence is coeval with the lowermost ones reported herein from the eastern Anabar Uplift (see section Material above).…”

Sponge spicules from the lower Cambrian in the Yanjiahe Formation, South China: The earliest biomineralizing sponge record

“…Numerous diversified and well-preserved sponges occur in the exceptional faunas from Cambrian Series 2 of the Yangtze Platform, China, such as the Chengjiang, the Niutitang, the Sancha, the Zunyi, and the Hetang faunas (e.g., Zhang and Pratt, 1994;Yuan et al, 2002;Xiao et al, 2005;Wu et al, 2014). Along with comparable coeval sponge faunas from South Australia and Siberia (e.g., Shabanov et al, 1987;Bengtson, 1990;Rozanov and Zhuravlev, 1992), they suggest that sponge groups diversified quickly during the Cambrian Series 2. On the opposite, Terreneuvian sponge fossils are conspicuously rare and poorly-substantiated, and even appear to be rare to absent in the earliest Cambrian (Terreneuvian) as well as the late Neoproterozoic (Debrenne and Reitner, 2001;Xiao et al, 2005;Antcliffe et al, 2014).…”

“…13 Siberia (e.g., Bengtson, 1990;Rozanov and Zhuravlev, 1992), have remarkably diversified skeletons, indicating that sponge groups established quickly during the Cambrian Epoch 2 as a part of the "Cambrian Explosion". Besides, sponges were presented both in deep-water and shallow water environments and the epifaunal tiering have been well developed into different levels (some sponges reach the 50 cm tier according to Yuan et al, 2002), indicating that sponges have successfully evolved into important ecological actors of bottom-level suspension feeding communities.…”