Lower Cambrian (Botomian) polycystine Radiolaria from the Altai Mountains (southern Siberia, Russia)

Relatively well-preserved polycystine Radiolaria are here described from Lower Cambrian (Botomian) strata of the Shashkunar Formation, Altai Mountains in southern Siberia (Russia). These radiolarians display a test formed of a disorderly and three-dimensionally interwoven meshwork of numerous straight and curved bars branching from a five-rayed point-centered spicule located within the inner shell surface. The shell structure allows their assignment to the family Archeoentactiniidae, thus extending the known age range of the family down to the Lower Cambrian. The Botomian age is based essentially on trilobites (Parapagetia-Serrodiscus zone), but also on archaeocyathids identified in earlier publications. The study of the radiolarian-bearing sedimentary sequence confirms the presence of polycystine radiolaria in the external platform environments of Lower Cambrian ecosystems.