Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-m9kch Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-19T13:35:43.525Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Blastulospongia polytreta n. sp., an enigmatic organism from the Lower Cambrian of Hubei, China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

S. Conway Morris  and
Chen Menge
S. Conway Morris
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EQ, U.K.
Chen Menge
Affiliation:
Institute of Geology, Academia Sinica, Beijing, People's Republic of China
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Blastulospongia is an enigmatic siliceous fossil with affinities proposed amongst both the sphinctozoan-grade sponges and radiolarians. Blastulospongia polytreta n. sp. extends the record of this genus into the Lower Cambrian (Shuijingtuo Formation) and represents its first occurrence in China (Taishanmiao section, Hubei Province). It differs from previously described species in size and pore spacing. The first evidence for benthic attachment is presented. A relationship with sphinctozoan-grade sponges is considered unlikely, but firm support for a place in the radiolarians is lacking.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 64 , Issue 1 , January 1990 , pp. 26 - 30
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allison, C. W., and Hilgert, J. W. 1986. Scale microfossils from the early Cambrian of northwest Canada. Journal of Paleontology, 60:973–1015.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bengtson, S. 1986. Siliceous microfossils from the Upper Cambrian of Queensland. Alcheringa 10:195–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, Ping. 1987. The Sinian System, p. 2–7. In Stratigraphic Excursion Guidebook in the Yangtze Gorges Area. Geological Publishing House, Beijing (in Chinese and English).Google Scholar
Chen, Yiyuan, Zhang, Shusen, Liu, Guizhi, Xiong, Xingwu, Chen, Ping et al. 1984. The Sinian-Cambrian boundary in the eastern part of the Yangtze Gorges, Hubei. Bulletin of the Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences [Special issue on the Sinian-Cambrian boundary of China, ed. Xing Yusheng et al.], 10:14–35 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Conway Morris, S. 1987. The search for the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary. American Scientist, 75:156–167.Google Scholar
Ding, Qixiu, Luo, Huilin, Xing, Yusheng, Wang, Yangeng, and He, Tinggui. 1984. The stratigraphical position of the Sinian-Cambrian boundary and regional and intercontinental correlations of the boundary beds. Bulletin of the Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences [Special issue on the Sinian-Cambrian boundary of China, ed. Xing Yusheng et al.], 10:139–149 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Iams, W., and Stevens, R. K. 1988. Radiolaria and other siliceous microfossils of the Cow Head Group (Upper Cambrian-Middle Ordovician) of western Newfoundland. Geologica et Palaeontologica, 22:192–193.Google Scholar
Jeppsson, L., Fredholm, D., and Mattiasson, B. 1985. Acetic acid and phosphatic fossils—a warning. Journal of Paleontology, 59:952–956.Google Scholar
Kerber, M. 1988. Mikrofossilien aus unterkambrischen gesteinen der Montagne Noire, Frankreich. Palaeontographica, Abteilung A202:127–203.Google Scholar
Kruse, P. D. 1987. Further Australian Cambrian sphinctozoans. Geological Magazine, 124:543–553.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Missarzhevsky, V. V., and Mambetov, A. M. 1981. Stratigrafiya i fauna pogranichnykh sloev kembriya i dokembriya Malogo Karatau [Stratigraphy and fauna of Cambrian and Precambrian boundary beds of Maly Karatau]. Izdatel'stvo Nauka, Moskva (in Russian).Google Scholar
Nazarov, B. B. 1973. Radiolyarii iz nizhnikh gorizontov kembriya Batenevskogo kryazha [Radiolarians from the lower beds of the Cambrian of the Bateny Hills]. In Zhuravleva, I. T. (ed.), Problemy paleontologii i biostratigrafii nizhnego kembriya Sibiri i Dal'nego vostoka. Trudy Instituta Geologii i Geofiziki, Akademiya Nauk SSSR, Sibirskoe Otdelenie, 49:5–13 (in Russian).Google Scholar
Nazarov, B. B. 1975. Radiolyarii nizhnego-srednego paleozoya Kazakhstana (metody, issledovanii, sistematika, stratigraficheskoe znachenie) [Lower-Middle Paleozoic radiolarians of Kazakhstan (research methods, systematics, stratigraphic importance)]. Trudy Geologichekii Institut, Akademiya Nauk SSSR, 275:1–203 (in Russian).Google Scholar
Petrushevskaya, M. G. 1977. O proiskhozhdenii radiolyariy [On the origins of radiolarians]. Zoologisheskii Zhurnal, 56:1448–1458 (in Russian, with English abstract).Google Scholar
Pickett, J., and Jell, P. A. 1983. Middle Cambrian Sphinctozoa (Porifera) from New South Wales. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists, 1:85–92.Google Scholar
Qian, Yi. 1977. Hyolitha and some problematica from the Lower Cambrian Meishucun stage in central and S.W. China. Acta Palaeontologica Sinica, 16:255–275 (in Chinese, with English summary).Google Scholar
Qian, Yi. 1978. Cambrian System, p. 25–43. In Stratigraphy and Paleontology from Sinian to Permian in the Eastern Part of Yangtze Gorge, Hubei Province, Geological Department, Yangtze Gorge Working Group. Geological Publishing House, Beijing (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Saito, Y., Tiba, T., and Matsubara, S. 1988. Precambrian and Cambrian cherts in northwestern Tasmania. Bulletin of the National Science Museum, Ser. C (Geology & Paleontology), 14:59–70.Google Scholar
Sokolov, B. S., and Zhuravleva, I. T. 1983. Yarusnoe raschlenenie nizhnego kembriya sibiri, atlas okamenelostey [Lower Cambrian stage subdivision of Siberia, Atlas of fossils]. Trudy Instituta Geologii i Geofisika, Bulletyn 558:1–216 (in Russian).Google Scholar
Vacelet, J. 1985. Coralline sponges and the evolution of Porifera. In Conway Morris, S., George, J. D., Gibson, R., and Platt, H. M. (eds.), The Origins and Relationships of Lower Invertebrates. Systematics Association Special Volume 28:1–13. Clarendon Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Repina, L. N. 1986. Planetarnaya korrelyatsiya yarusnykh podrazdelenij nizhnego kembriya po trilobitam [Global correlation of the Lower Cambrian stage subdivisions according to trilobites]. In Zhuravleva, I. T. (ed.), Biostratigrafiya i paleontologiya kembriya sebernoi asii. Trudy Institut Geologii i Geofiziki, Akademiya Nauk SSSR, Sibirskoe Otdelenie, 669:4–25 (in Russian).Google Scholar
Val'kov, A. K. 1987. Biostratigrafiya nizhnego kembriya vostoka Sibirskoj platformy, Yudomo-Olenekskij region [Lower Cambrian biostratigraphy of the northern Siberian platform, Yudoma-Olenek region]. Akademiya Nauk SSSR, Sibirskoe Otdelenie, Yakutskij Filial Institut Geologii, 136 p. (in Russian).Google Scholar
Voronin, Yu. I., Voronova, L. G., Grigor'eva, N. V., Drozdova, N. A., Zhegallo, E. A., Zhuravlev, A. Yu., Ragozina, A. L., Rozanov, A. Yu., Sayutina, T. A., Sysoev, V. A., and Fonin, V. D. 1982. Granitsa dokembriya i kembryia v geosinklinal'nykh oblastyakh (opornyj razrez Salany-Gol, MNR) [The Precambrian/Cambrian boundary in the geosynclinal areas (the reference section of Salany-Gol, MPR)]. Trudy Sovmestnoj Sovetsko-Mongol'skoj Paleontologichesko Ehkspeditsii, 18:1–150 (in Russian).Google Scholar
Webby, B. D., and Rigby, J. K. 1985. Ordovician sphinctozoan sponges from central New South Wales. Alcheringa, 9:209–220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, R. D. 1986. Cambrian Radiolaria from Utah. Journal of Paleontology, 60:778–780.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xing, Yusheng, Ding, Qixiu, Luo, Huilin, He, Tinggui, and Wang, Yangeng. 1984. The Sinian-Cambrian boundary of China and its related problems. Geological Magazine, 121:155–170.Google Scholar
Yue, Zhao. 1987. The discovery of Tannuolina and Lapworthella from Lower Cambrian in Meishucun (Yunnan) and Maidiping (Sichuan) sections. Professional Papers of Stratigraphy and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, 16:173–180 (in Chinese, with English summary).Google Scholar
Zhou, Tianmei and Xu, Guanghong. 1987. The Cambrian System, p. 8–13. In Stratigraphic Excursion Guidebook in the Yangtze Gorges Area. Geological Publishing House, Beijing (in Chinese and English).Google Scholar