Biology:Ceratophyton

From HandWiki
Short description: Extinct genus of Cambrian organisms

Ceratophyton
Temporal range: Cambrian
Scientific classification e
Missing taxonomy template (fix): Incertae sedis/Metazoa
Genus: Ceratophyton
Kiryanov, 1979
Species
  • = Veryhachium trisentium C. spinuconum
  • C. circufuntum Zang in Gravestock et al. 2001[1]
  • Paskevicienè 1980 Zang in Gravestock et al. 2001[1]
  • C. vernicosum C. dumufuntum
  • Kiryanov 1979 (type) Zang 2001[2]
  • C. duplicum Zang in Gravestock et al. 2001[1]
  • Hagenfeldt, 1989[2] = C. groetlingboensis

Ceratophyton is a genus of Cambrian acritarch, around 100–200 µm in length, produced by a eukaryotic (metazoan?) organism.

Affinity

Ceratophyton has been interpreted as an originally chitinous component of a metazoan.[2][3] An arthropod relationship has been proposed,[4] although on a more conservative view it is difficult to provide confident classification beyond saying that they are fragments of a eukaryote.[2] Particular species, however, show promising similarity to the sclerites of modern priapulid worms.[5]

Species

C. vernicosum

This species, the type, comprises a single unornamented cone.[1] This species occurs in platform settings in western Russia in the Lontova and Lyukati horizons, first occurring in the local base of the 'Cambrian'.[2][6] In Poland it occurs from the base of the Cambrian (Platysolenites zone) to the Schmidtiellus zone.[6]

It has been reported from the middle Cambrian of Belgium, although these specimens are short on diagnostic features.[3]

It also occurs below the T. pedum zone, indicating the presence of the producer in the Ediacaran period.[7]

C. circufuntum

This species is represented by single cones that have rings around their bases.[1]

C. duplicum

This taxon has a double wall, resembling a pair of stacked cones; it may represent a taphomorph of C. vernicosum.[2]

C. dumufuntum

This single cone has short conical spines, which occur on its basal region.[1] This species is known from the mid-to-late Atdabanian siltstones of the Ouldburra formation of Australia .[7][8]

C. spinuconum

This species again comprises a single cone; it has spines and processes along both margins.[1]

Differences from other taxa

Ceratophyton differs from the taxon Veryhachium in having a basal opening.[2]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 The Cambrian biostratigraphy of the Stansbury Basin, South Australia. Russian Academy of Sciences: Transactions of the Palaeontological Institute. 2001. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/255729948. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Moczydlowska, M. (2008). "New records of late Ediacaran microbiota from Poland". Precambrian Research 167 (1–2): 71–92. doi:10.1016/j.precamres.2008.07.007. Bibcode2008PreR..167...71M. https://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:113862/FULLTEXT01. 
  3. 3.0 3.1 Michel VANGUESTAINE; Renaud LÉONARD (2005). "NEW BIOSTRATIGRAPHIC AND CHRONOSTRATIGRAPHIC DATA FROM THE SAUTOU FORMATION AND ADJACENT STRATA (CAMBRIAN, GIVONNE INLIER, REVIN GROUP, NORTHERN FRANCE) AND SOME LITHOSTRATIGRAPHIC AND TECTONIC IMPLICATIONS". Geologica Belgica 8 (4): 131–144. http://popups.ulg.ac.be/1374-8505/index.php?id=1439&file=1&pid=796. 
  4. Steiner, M.; Fatka, O. I. (1996). "Lower Cambrian tubular micro-to macrofossils from the Paseky Shale of the Barrandian area (Czech Republic)". Paläontologische Zeitschrift 70 (3–4): 275. doi:10.1007/BF02988075. 
  5. Butterfield, N. J.; Harvey, T. H. P. (2011). "Small carbonaceous fossils (SCFs): A new measure of early Paleozoic paleobiology". Geology 40: 71–74. doi:10.1130/G32580.1. 
  6. 6.0 6.1 Wright, A. E.; Fairchild, I. J.; Moseley, F.; Downie, C. (2009). "The Lower Cambrian Wrekin Quartzite and the age of its unconformity on the Ercall Granophyre". Geological Magazine 130 (2): 257. doi:10.1017/S0016756800009900. 
  7. 7.0 7.1 Jago, J. B.; Zang, W. L.; Sun, X.; Brock, G. A.; Paterson, J. R.; Skovsted, C. B. (2006). "A review of the Cambrian biostratigraphy of South Australia". Palaeoworld 15 (3–4): 406. doi:10.1016/j.palwor.2006.10.014. 
  8. Kovalevych, V. M.; Zang, W. -L.; Peryt, T. M.; Khmelevska, O. V.; Halas, S.; Iwasinska-Budzyk, I.; Boult, P. J.; Heithersay, P. S. (2006). "Deposition and chemical composition of early Cambrian salt in the eastern Officer Basin, South Australia". Australian Journal of Earth Sciences 53 (4): 577. doi:10.1080/08120090600686736. Bibcode2006AuJES..53..577K. 

Wikidata ☰ Q18345187 entry