Abstract
Although the fossil record of biramous arthropods commences in the Lower Cambrian, unequivocal uniramous arthropods do not appear until the Upper Silurian, in association with terrestrial biotas. Here we report an Upper Cambrian marine arthropod from East Siberia that possesses some significant myriapodan features. The new arthropod,Xanthomyria spinosa n. gen., n. sp., closely resembles examples of archipolypodans from the Late Palaeozoic. If this resemblance genuinely represents myriapod affinities, this would be the first convincing myriapod from the Cambrian. Suggestions of an early branching point of the myriapods from other arthropods would be consistent with this. Conversely, an as yet poorly known clade of multi-segmented arthropods may exist in the Cambrian, with no close affinities to the myriapods.
Kurzfassung
Spaltbeintragende Arthropoden sind bereits aus dem Unterkambrium bekannt, dagegen erscheinen unirame Arthropoden, gemeinsam mit ihren terrestrischen Lebensräumen, im Fossilbericht nicht vor dem Obersilur. In der vorliegenden Studie beschreiben wir einen marinen Arthropoden aus dem Oberkambrium Ostsibiriens, welcher mehrere deutliche Myriapodenmerkmale zeigt. Der neue Arthropode,Xanthomyria spinosa n. gen., n. sp., weist Ähnlichkeiten mit einigen Archipolypoden des Jungpaläozoikums auf. Sollten diese Ähnlichkeiten tatsächlich auf Zugehörigkeit zu den Myriapoden zurückzuführen sein, so wäre die neue Art der erste bekannte Vertreter der Myriapoden aus dem Kambrium. Dies wäre in Einklang mit der Annahme einer frühen Abspaltung der Myriapoden von anderen Arthropodengruppen. Andernfalls könnte im Kambrium eine nicht näher mit den Myriapoden verwandte, bisher kaum bekannte Gruppe vielsegmentiger Arthropoden existiert haben.
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Budd, G.E., Högström, A.E.S. & Gogin, I. A myriapod-like arthropod from the Upper Cambrian of East Siberia. Paläontol Z 75, 37–41 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03022596
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03022596