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Disc-shaped fossils resembling porpitids or eldonids from the early Cambrian (Series 2: Stage 4) of western USA
Lieberman, Bruce S. Kurkewicz, Richard Shinogle, Heather E. Kimmig, Julien MacGabhann, Breandán Anraoi
Lieberman, Bruce S.
Kurkewicz, Richard
Shinogle, Heather E.
Kimmig, Julien
MacGabhann, Breandán Anraoi
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Abstract
The morphology and affinities of newly discovered disc-shaped, soft-bodied fossils from the early Cambrian (Series 2: Stage 4, Dyeran) Carrara Formation are discussed. These specimens show some similarity to the Ordovician Discophyllum Hall, 1847; traditionally this taxon had been treated as a fossil porpitid. However, recently it has instead been referred to as another clade, the eldonids, which includes the enigmatic Eldonia Walcott, 1911 that was originally described from the Cambrian Burgess Shale. The status of various Proterozoic and Phanerozoic taxa previously referred to porpitids and eldonids is also briefly considered. To help ascertain that the specimens were not dubio- or pseudofossils, elemental mapping using energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) was conducted. This, in conjunction with the morphology of the specimens, indicated that the fossils were not hematite, iron sulfide, pyrolusite, or other abiologic mineral precipitates. Instead, their status as biologic structures and thus actual fossils is supported. Enrichment in the element carbon, and also possibly to some extent the elements magnesium and iron, seems to be playing some role in the preservation process.
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Date
2017-06-06
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PeerJ
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Lieberman_2017.pdf
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Keywords
Porpitid, Hydrozoa, Cnidaria, Cambrian, Burgess shale type fossil, Elemental mapping, Eldonid
Citation
Lieberman BS, Kurkewicz R, Shinogle H, Kimmig J, MacGabhann BA. (2017) Disc-shaped fossils resembling porpitids or eldonids from the early Cambrian (Series 2: Stage 4) of western USA. PeerJ 5:e3312 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.3312