Pates Stephen, Lerosey-Aubril Rudy, Daley Allison C, Kier Carlo, Bonino Enrico, Ortega-Hernández Javier
Museum of Comparative Zoology and Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Institut des sciences de la Terre (ISTE), Université de Lausanne, Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland.
PeerJ. 2021 Jan 19;9:e10509. doi: 10.7717/peerj.10509. eCollection 2021.
Radiodonts have long been known from Cambrian deposits preserving non-biomineralizing organisms. In Utah, the presence of these panarthropods in the Spence and Wheeler (House Range and Drum Mountains) biotas is now well-documented. Conversely, radiodont occurrences in the Marjum Formation have remained scarce. Despite the large amount of work undertaken on its diverse fauna, only one radiodont () has been reported from the Marjum Biota. In this contribution we quadruple the known radiodont diversity of the Marjum fauna, with the description of the youngest members of two genera, and , and that of a new taxon gen. et sp. nov. This new taxon can be identified from its large oral cone bearing robust hooked teeth with one, two, or three cusps, and by the unique endite morphology and organisation of its frontal appendages. Appendages of at least 12 podomeres bear six recurved plate-like endites proximal to up to four spiniform distal endites. specimens from the Marjum Formation are particularly large, but otherwise morphologically indistinguishable from the carapace elements of this species found in the Wheeler Formation. One of the two new specimens can be confidently assigned to . The other bears the largest spines relative to appendage length recorded for this genus, and possesses endites of variable size and unequal spacing, making its taxonomic assignment uncertain. , and are all known from the underlying Wheeler Formation, whereas isolated appendages from the Spence Shale and the Wheeler Formation, previously assigned to , are tentatively reidentified as . Notably, none of these four genera occurs in the overlying Weeks Formation, providing supporting evidence of a faunal restructuring around the Drumian-Guzhangian boundary. The description of three additional nektonic taxa from the Marjum Formation further documents the higher relative proportion of free-swimming species in this biota compared to those of the Wheeler and Weeks Lagerstätten. This could be related to a moderate deepening of the basin and/or changing regional ocean circulation at this time.
放射齿目动物长期以来一直存在于保存有非矿化生物的寒武纪沉积物中。在犹他州,这些泛节肢动物在斯彭斯和惠勒(豪斯岭和鼓山)生物群中的存在现已得到充分记录。相反,马尔朱姆组中放射齿目的出现仍然很少。尽管对其多样的动物群进行了大量研究,但马尔朱姆生物群中仅报告了一种放射齿目动物()。在本论文中,我们通过描述两个属(和)的最年轻成员以及一个新分类单元(属及新种),将马尔朱姆动物群中已知的放射齿目动物多样性增加了四倍。这个新分类单元可以通过其带有粗壮钩状齿且有一个、两个或三个尖的大口锥,以及其额叶附肢独特的内叶形态和结构来识别。至少有12个肢节的附肢在近端有六个向后弯曲的板状内叶,远端最多有四个棘状内叶。马尔朱姆组的标本特别大,但在形态上与惠勒组中发现的该物种的头甲元素没有区别。两个新的标本中有一个可以确定归为。另一个标本相对于该属记录的附肢长度而言,具有最大的刺,并且内叶大小不一、间距不等,这使得其分类归属不确定。、和都见于下伏的惠勒组,而之前归为的来自斯彭斯页岩和惠勒组的孤立附肢,暂被重新鉴定为。值得注意的是,这四个属在上覆的威克斯组中均未出现,这为德鲁米阶 - 古丈阶边界附近的动物群重组提供了支持证据。对马尔朱姆组另外三个游泳生物分类单元的描述进一步证明,与惠勒和威克斯化石库相比,该生物群中自由游泳物种的相对比例更高。这可能与此时盆地的适度加深和/或区域海洋环流的变化有关。