华南贵州寒武系(2-3统)凯里组有机质壁微体化石的新材料

凯里生物群既是中国华南寒武系重要的布尔吉斯页岩型生物群之一,同时也是国内外已知少数微体布尔吉斯页岩型特异埋藏化石库之一,化石以二维的有机质壁形式保存。本文改进孢粉学处理方法,对来自中国贵州寒武系凯里组苗板坡、丹寨、竹坪和屯州等几个剖面以及相邻地层的共22个样品进行酸泡处理,获得微体化石新材料。结果显示,苗板坡剖面保存的化石多样性明显较高,其中发现的疑源类和丝状藻类最多,占统计总数(N=1549)的90%以上;同时还发现少量的后生动物残片,如威瓦西虫的骨板、腕足动物壳体残块以及蠕形动物表皮等,这些后生动物化石残片为研究某些后生动物的细微结构提供了重要补充信息,有助于对这些动物化石进行分类鉴定,并可能具有一定生物地层学意义。     

华南埃迪卡拉纪化石保存方式及其时空分布

埃迪卡拉纪化石保存方式具有多样性,包括:磷酸盐化、有机碳质压膜、黄铁矿化、硅化、以及粘土矿物交代。文中综述了以上各种化石保存方式在地层中的时代分布规律、埋藏特征和形成机理,并分析了这些类型的化石库在我国埃迪卡拉纪地层中的地理分布规律和埋藏学意义。分析结果表明:华南埃迪卡拉纪化石库的保存方式主要以有机碳质压膜为主;磷酸盐化和硅化保存方式分布较广;黄铁矿化和粘土矿物交代方式在中国埃迪卡拉纪地层保存较少。有机碳质压膜、黄铁矿化多见于粉砂岩、泥岩中;磷酸盐化、硅化多出现于磷块岩、燧石层或碳酸盐岩的磷质、硅质结核中,化石多为微体化石。另外,多种化石保存方式常常同时出现在同一化石库中,形成复合式的保存模式。     

前寒武纪沉积碎屑岩中有机质壁微体化石的分析处理及观察方法

前寒武纪是地球演化历史上的重要时期,随着早期生命起源、构造演化、油气勘探等研究的不断深入,前寒武纪越来越受到关注。微体化石是研究前寒武纪生命演化和地层对比的重要窗口,尤其是在新元古代大冰期之前的地层中,主要保存的是体型较小、类型多样的微体化石,而宏体化石则凤毛麟角,仅有为数不多的类型。在许多前寒武纪碎屑岩地层中,以布尔吉斯页岩型方式保存的有机质壁微体化石,是其中保存的唯一的化石类型。但因这些有机质壁微体化石在围岩中遭受了长时间地成岩、变质、风化和剥蚀等作用,在化石处理过程中非常容易破碎,导致获取保存完整的微体化石较为困难,给属种鉴定、生物多样性评估和生物地层对比等研究带来诸多不便。本文主要介绍一种从粉砂岩-泥岩中获取有机质壁微体化石的处理方法,包括样品的碎样、酸处理、富集、挑选、制片和拍照等各流程的详细步骤,以及在分析处理中存在的问题和注意事项。     

滇东南寒武系始海百合化石的发现

报道在滇东南寒武系田蓬组中发现的保存完整的始海百合类棘皮动物化石,经鉴定为卢氏中国始海百合Sinoeocrinus lui Zhao,Huang and Gong。该棘皮动物与三叶虫化石Kaotaia magna(Lu),Oryctocephalus indicus(Reed)等共生,其时代应属于寒武系第三统第五阶底部,与贵州中寒武世凯里生物群相当。田蓬组始海百合化石保存有完好的柄、萼、腕等构造,属于典型的特异埋藏。滇东南寒武系始海百合的发现对探讨该类动物的早期演化、古地理分布和生态环境,以及在滇东南地区寻找布尔吉斯页岩型动物群都有着重大意义。     

滇东南寒武系始海百合化石的发现北大核心CSCD

报道在滇东南寒武系田蓬组中发现的保存完整的始海百合类棘皮动物化石,经鉴定为卢氏中国始海百合Sinoeocrinus lui Zhao,Huang and Gong。该棘皮动物与三叶虫化石Kaotaia magna(Lu),Oryctocephalus indicus(Reed)等共生,其时代应属于寒武系第三统第五阶底部,与贵州中寒武世凯里生物群相当。田蓬组始海百合化石保存有完好的柄、萼、腕等构造,属于典型的特异埋藏。滇东南寒武系始海百合的发现对探讨该类动物的早期演化、古地理分布和生态环境,以及在滇东南地区寻找布尔吉斯页岩型动物群都有着重大意义。     

湖北中部寒武纪早期石龙洞组布尔吉斯页岩型生物群的发现

文章简要报道湖北中部京山县郊发现的一个布尔吉斯页岩型生物群,该生物群由大量三叶虫、腕足类、软舌螺及少量鳃曳动物、双瓣壳节肢动物、非三叶虫节肢动物和棘皮动物等组成。文中重点描述非三叶虫节肢动物Clypecaris?和棘皮动物Sinoeocrinus,两者分别为澄江动物群和凯里生物群的典型分子。依据生物地层学证据,该生物群的时代大致为寒武纪第四期晚期(龙王庙期),与凯里生物群下部组合基本相当,稍晚于云南东部的关山动物群和峡东地区石牌组的布尔吉斯页岩型生物群。该发现进一步丰富了华中地区早-中寒武世化石库的资料,扩大了布尔吉斯页岩型生物群的地理分布,并是目前已知唯一的分布在扬子地台北缘的该类型生物群,这对寒武纪环扬子地台古生态的重建和多门类后生生物的演化都将提供重要资料。     

贵州剑河寒武系苗岭统凯里组太阳女神螺类几何形态学研究*

太阳女神螺类(helcionellids)是寒武纪常见的一类软体动物,广布全球,多见于碳酸盐岩沉积地层中,而布尔吉斯页岩型生物群中却少有报道。贵州剑河凯里生物群是典型的特异埋藏化石库,产有700余件太阳女神螺类标本,这在世界各地同时期的布尔吉斯页岩型生物群中是很少见的。本文对贵州剑河八郎寒武系凯里组太阳女神螺类化石标本进行了系统研究,采用几何形态测量学的典型变量分析进行量化分析。几何形态测量学(Geometric morphometrics)是用界标点或轮廓线等来描绘生物的形态或者标记特征部位及器官,将生物形态特征归纳为数据变化的定量学方法,其中的典型变量分析(Canonical Variate Analysis)是多变量分析中进行判别分析的一个重要方法,可以用于多组数据之间的判别。CVA判别结果显示:利用壳体侧视轮廓线判别Dorispira属中三个种的正确率为92%,验证了Dorispira accordinonata、D.taijiangensis和D.cf.pearylandica化石种分类合理性。本文研究表明即使壳体形态较为相似的类群,也可以较为准确地使用CVA量化其中的差别,...     

化石保存的方式

地层中的化石按其保存特点,可分为实体化石、模铸化石、遗迹化石和化学化石4大类。1实体化石指由生物遗体的全部或一部分保存而成的化石,其中大多数保存了生物的硬体部分,如外壳、骨骼等。实体化石又可分为未变实体化石、微变硬体化石和石化化石3种。1．1未变实体化石特指古代生物软体部分尚保存的化石。著名的西伯利亚和阿拉斯加第四纪冻土中发现的猛码象,其毛、皮、内脏等都保存完好,甚至有些个体的肉在发现后,还可被食肉兽吃掉。从它们胃中的残留食物及抱子花粉,可以推知它们的食性。其次,如保存在第四纪搪玻中的昆虫化石,其中…     

英文贵州中寒武世凯里生物群中宏观藻类化石新材料(英文)

贵州省台江县中寒武世凯里生物群含有丰富的非钙质藻类和具有软躯体后生动物化石 ,它为布尔吉斯页岩型生物群在世界广泛分布提供了更有力的证据。在生物群的宏观藻类中描述了 5个属 5个种 ,包括 2个新属。它们是MarpoliaspissaWalcott、AcinocricusstichusConwayMorrisandRobison、UdotealgaerectaYang、EosargassumsawataYang和RhizophytonzhaoyuanlongiiYang ,并且将凯里生物群中的宏观藻类化石组合与加拿大布尔吉斯页岩生物群中的宏观藻类进行了对比 ,发现两个生物群不仅具有相似的动物化石组成 ,而且宏观藻类化石组成也很相似。     

华南兰多维列世几种磷灰质微体化石*

磷灰质硬体存在于现代和地质历史中,早古生代的一些磷灰质生物硬体可以作为化石保存下来。在志留纪常见的磷灰质微体化石或磷灰质化石碎片中,有牙形刺、无颌类的鳞片、锥石、无铰纲腕足类、环节动物多毛纲的虫管,节肢动物(鲎类、剑尾目、光甲目等),似软舌螺,一些分类地位不明的小壳化石和其他未知类别经过磷酸岩矿化作用而形成的磷灰质化石。早古生代的一些零星的、分散的磷灰质骨片,早为古生物学家所瞩目。这些磷灰质微体化石,由于只是残片,不能窥其全貌,所以在鉴定、研究时都有一定的困难,但它对探讨多种生物的起源和演化历史却是至关重要的。尽管多数磷灰质骨片产地零星、数量亦少。     

Beyond the Burgess Shale: Cambrian microfossils track the rise and fall of hallucigeniid lobopodians

Burgess Shale-type deposits are renowned for their exquisite preservation of soft-bodied organisms, representing a range of animal body plans that evolved during the Cambrian ‘explosion’. However, the rarity of these fossil deposits makes it difficult to reconstruct the broader-scale distributions of their constituent organisms. By contrast, microscopic skeletal elements represent an extensive chronicle of early animal evolution—but are difficult to interpret in the absence of corresponding whole-body fossils. Here, we provide new observations on the dorsal spines of the Cambrian lobopodian (panarthropod) worm Hallucigenia sparsa from the Burgess Shale (Cambrian Series 3, Stage 5). These exhibit a distinctive scaly microstructure and layered (cone-in-cone) construction that together identify a hitherto enigmatic suite of carbonaceous and phosphatic Cambrian microfossils—including material attributed to Mongolitubulus, Rushtonites and Rhombocorniculum—as spines of Hallucigenia-type lobopodians. Hallucigeniids are thus revealed as an important and widespread component of disparate Cambrian communities from late in the Terreneuvian (Cambrian Stage 2) through the ‘middle’ Cambrian (Series 3); their apparent decline in the latest Cambrian may be partly taphonomic. The cone-in-cone construction of hallucigeniid sclerites is shared with the sclerotized cuticular structures (jaws and claws) in modern onychophorans. More generally, our results emphasize the reciprocal importance and complementary roles of Burgess Shale-type fossils and isolated microfossils in documenting early animal evolution.     

Skimming the surface with Burgess Shale arthropod locomotion

The first arthropod trackways are described from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale Formation of Canada. Trace fossils, including trackways, provide a rich source of biological and ecological information, including direct evidence of behaviour not commonly available from body fossils alone. The discovery of large arthropod trackways is unique for Burgess Shale-type deposits. Trackway dimensions and the requisite number of limbs are matched with the body plan of a tegopeltid arthropod. Tegopelte, one of the rarest Burgess Shale animals, is over twice the size of all other benthic arthropods known from this locality, and only its sister taxon, Saperion, from the Lower Cambrian Chengjiang biota of China, approaches a similar size. Biomechanical trackway analysis demonstrates that tegopeltids were capable of rapidly skimming across the seafloor and, in conjunction with the identification of gut diverticulae in Tegopelte, supports previous hypotheses on the locomotory capabilities and carnivorous mode of life of such arthropods. The trackways occur in the oldest part (Kicking Horse Shale Member) of the Burgess Shale Formation, which is also known for its scarce assemblage of soft-bodied organisms, and indicate at least intermittent oxygenated bottom waters and low sedimentation rates.     

贵州剑河中寒武世中期甲劳组水母状化石的发现

贵州剑河革东镇八郎村南甲劳组中部钙质白云岩中新近发现的具有粗强放射状辐管的水母状化石和其下凯里组中具细辐管及同心环的拟轮盘水母(Pararotadiscus)有明显区别,属于伊尔东钵科(Eldoniidae)。其层位晚于中寒武世早期凯里生物群中拟轮盘水母(Pararotadiscus)层位1个化石带,属中寒武世中期,是该类化石在中国的最高层位,相当于北美布尔吉斯页岩生物群中Eldonia化石层位。     

A cryptic record of Burgess Shale‐type diversity from the early Cambrian of Baltica

Exceptionally preserved ‘Burgess Shale‐type’ fossil assemblages from the Cambrian of Laurentia, South China and Australia record a diverse array of non‐biomineralizing organisms. During this time, the palaeocontinent Baltica was geographically isolated from these regions, and is conspicuously lacking in terms of comparable accessible early Cambrian Lagerstätten. Here we report a diverse assemblage of small carbonaceous fossils (SCFs) from the early Cambrian (Stage 4) File Haidar Formation of southeast Sweden and surrounding areas of the Baltoscandian Basin, including exceptionally preserved remains of Burgess Shale‐type metazoans and other organisms. Recovered SCFs include taxonomically resolvable ecdysozoan elements (priapulid and palaeoscolecid worms), lophotrochozoan elements (annelid chaetae and wiwaxiid sclerites), as well as ‘protoconodonts’, denticulate feeding structures, and a background of filamentous and spheroidal microbes. The annelids, wiwaxiids and priapulids are the first recorded from the Cambrian of Baltica. The File Haidar SCF assemblage is broadly comparable to those recovered from Cambrian basins in Laurentia and South China, though differences at lower taxonomic levels point to possible environmental or palaeogeographical controls on taxon ranges. These data reveal a fundamentally expanded picture of early Cambrian diversity on Baltica, and provide key insights into high‐latitude Cambrian faunas and patterns of SCF preservation. We establish three new taxa based on large populations of distinctive SCFs: Baltiscalida njorda gen. et sp. nov. (a priapulid), Baltichaeta jormunganda gen. et sp. nov. (an annelid) and Baltinema rana gen. et sp. nov. (a filamentous problematicum).     

Unlocking the early fossil record of the arthropod central nervous system

Extant panarthropods (euarthropods, onychophorans and tardigrades) are hallmarked by stunning morphological and taxonomic diversity, but their central nervous systems (CNS) are relatively conserved. The timing of divergences of the ground pattern CNS organization of the major panarthropod clades has been poorly constrained because of a scarcity of data from their early fossil record. Although the CNS has been documented in three-dimensional detail in insects from Cenozoic ambers, it is widely assumed that these tissues are too prone to decay to withstand other styles of fossilization or geologically older preservation. However, Cambrian Burgess Shale-type compressions have emerged as sources of fossilized brains and nerve cords. CNS in these Cambrian fossils are preserved as carbon films or as iron oxides/hydroxides after pyrite in association with carbon. Experiments with carcasses compacted in fine-grained sediment depict preservation of neural tissue for a more prolonged temporal window than anticipated by decay experiments in other media. CNS and compound eye characters in exceptionally preserved Cambrian fossils predict divergences of the mandibulate and chelicerate ground patterns by Cambrian Stage 3 (ca 518 Ma), a dating that is compatible with molecular estimates for these splits.     

贵州早-中寒武世凯里组类似苔藓植物化石

贵州台江早-中寒武世凯里组保存大量的生物化石,它构成了寒武纪重要的生物群之一--凯里生物群.在凯里生物群中保存有丰富的碳质薄膜藻类化石,新发现类似苔藓植物化石(Parafunaria sinensis Yang(gen.et sp.nov)),它具有藓类植物所拥有的典型的叶状体轮生现象、孢朔、孢朔柄和复杂的根系特征.推测它是藓类植物祖先,它为进一步研究藓类植物和陆生高等植物的起源和演化提供了新的线索.     

Early Cambrian small carbonaceous fossils (SCFs) from an impact crater in western Finland

We describe an assemblage of small carbonaceous fossils (SCFs) and acritarchs from cored siltstones of the Lappajärvi impact structure, west‐central Finland. Previous studies had detected a depauperate acritarch biota ascribed to a deep Proterozoic origin—this age, however, was based on recovery of long‐ranging poorly age‐diagnostic sphaeromorphs. To resolve the age and provenance of these crater sediments, we applied low‐manipulation processing techniques optimized for retrieval of larger organic‐walled microfossils. Our study revealed a previously undetected assemblage containing numerous metazoan SCFs consisting of flattened ‘protoconodonts’ (grasping spines assignable to total group Chaetognatha) and a distinctive fossilised chaeta, possibly representing the oldest known annelid remains. Phylogenetically problematic fossils include various acritarchs (large Leiosphaeridia sp., Tasmanites tenellus, smaller sphaeromorphs, Synsphaeridium, Archaeodiscina and Granomarginata) and filamentous forms (Palaeolyngbya‐ and Rugosoopsis‐like filaments, Siphonophycus), likely representing prokaryotic or protistan grades of organisation. As well as adding new diversity to an emerging SCFs record, these data substantially refine the age of these sediments by more than half a billion years, to an early Cambrian Terreneuvian age. More specifically, the assemblage is equivalent to that of the Lontova Formation from the Baltic States and northwest Russia, but is previously unreported from Finland. Identification of Lontova‐type SCFs/organic‐walled microfossils at Lappajärvi further constrains the poorly resolved extent of maximum flooding during the early Cambrian in Baltica. Renewed attention should be directed to strata that have thus far produced only biostratigraphically long‐ranging or ambiguous palynological assemblages—‘SCF‐style’ processing can reveal hitherto undetected, age‐informative microfossils that are otherwise selectively removed in conventional palynological studies.     

贵州早-中寒武世凯里组类似苔藓植物化石(英文)

贵州台江早-中寒武世凯里组保存大量的生物化石,它构成了寒武纪重要的生物群之一——凯里生物群。在凯里生物群中保存有丰富的碳质薄膜藻类化石,新发现类似苔藓植物化石(Parafunaria sinensis Yang(gen.et sp.nov)),它具有藓类植物所拥有的典型的叶状体轮生现象、孢朔、孢朔柄和复杂的根系特征。推测它是藓类植物祖先,它为进一步研究藓类植物和陆生高等植物的起源和演化提供了新的线索。     

Darwin's dilemma: the realities of the Cambrian 'explosion'

The Cambrian 'explosion' is widely regarded as one of the fulcrum points in the history of life, yet its origins and causes remain deeply controversial. New data from the fossil record, especially of Burgess Shale-type Lagerst?tten, indicate, however, that the assembly of bodyplans is not only largely a Cambrian phenomenon, but can already be documented in fair detail. This speaks against a much more ancient origin of the metazoans, and current work is doing much to reconcile the apparent discrepancies between the fossil record, including the Ediacaran assemblages of latest Neoproterozoic age and molecular 'clocks'. Hypotheses to explain the Cambrian 'explosion' continue to be generated, but the recurrent confusion of cause and effect suggests that the wrong sort of question is being asked. Here I propose that despite its step-like function this evolutionary event is the inevitable consequence of Earth and biospheric change.