Advertisement

Chinese Science Bulletin

, Volume 58, Issue 32, pp 3937–3942 | Cite as

New anomalocardid frontal appendages from the Guanshan biota, eastern Yunnan

  • YuanYuan Wang
  • DiYing HuangEmail author
  • ShiXue Hu
Open Access
Article Geology
First Online:

Abstract

Anomalocaridids were large predators of the Cambrian seas at the top of the trophic pyramid. Complete anomalocaridid specimens have been rarely discovered and the rigid isolated frontal appendages and mouthparts are more commonly preserved. Here we study new material of the frontal appendages from the Wulongqing Formation, Cambrian Stage 4, Series 2 near Kunming, eastern Yunnan. Two new forms of anomalocaridid frontal appendages are described, namely Anomalocaris kunmingensis sp. nov. and Paranomalocaris multisegmentalis gen. nov., sp. nov. The frontal appendage of A. kunmingensis sp. nov. probably comprises 15 podomeres of which the first one has a weakened skeletoned, the second one is armed with small spines, and the third one is armed with remarkably robust proximal ventral spines with 6 anisomerous auxiliary spines; paired auxiliary spines are associated with podomeres 4–14; podomeres 12–14 are armed with paired dorsal spines, and the last podomere bears 2 distal spines, one spine distinctly larger than the other. The frontal appendage of P. multisegmentalis tapered backwards, consisting of 22 visible podomeres; the most ventral spine is armed with 5 pairs of auxiliary spines, and podomeres 12–21 bear dorsal spines, the last podomere with 2 small distal spines. The new material provides additional evidence for our understanding of the diversity of anomalocaridids in the Cambrian. The morphology of these new finds may indicate the importance of different feeding strategies of anomalocaridids in the Cambrian ecosystem.

Kewyords

Yunnan Cambrian anomalocaridids frontal appendage Guanshan biota 
Download to read the full article text

References

  1. 1.
    Chen J Y, Ramsköld L, Zhou G Q. Evidence for monophyly and arthropod affinity of Cambrian giant predators. Science, 1994, 264: 1304–1308CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. 2.
    Whittington H B, Briggs D E G. The large Cambrian animal, Anomalocaris, Burgess Shale, British Columbia. Phil Trans R Soc Lond B, 1985, 309: 569–609CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. 3.
    Hou X G, Bergström J, Ahlberg P. Anomalocaris and other large animals in the Lower Cambrian Chengjiang fauna of southwest China. GFF, 1995, 117: 163–183CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  4. 4.
    Collins D. The ‘evolution’ of Anomalocaris and its classification in the arthropod class Dinocarida (nov.) and order Radiodonta (nov.). J Paleontol, 1996, 70: 280–293Google Scholar
  5. 5.
    Daley A C, Budd G E, Caron J B, et al. The Burgess Shale anomalocaridid Hurdia and its significance for early euarthropod evolution. Science, 2009, 323: 1597–1600CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  6. 6.
    Daley A C, Budd G E. New anomalocaridid appendages from the Burgess Shale, Canada. Palaeontol, 2010, 53: 721–738CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  7. 7.
    Chen J Y. The Dawn of Animal World (in Chinese). Nanjing: Jiangsu Science and Technology Press, 2004. 1–366Google Scholar
  8. 8.
    Daley A C, Peel J S. A possible anomalocaridid from the Cambrian Sirius Passet Lagerstätte, North Greenland. J Paleontol, 2010, 84: 352–355CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  9. 9.
    Van Roy P, Briggs D E G. A giant Ordovician anomalocaridid. Nature, 2011, 473: 511–513Google Scholar
  10. 10.
    Paterson J R, García-Bellido D C, Lee M S Y, et al. Acute vision in the giant Cambrian predator Anomalocaris and the origin of compound eyes. Nature, 2011, 480: 237–240CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  11. 11.
    Kühl G, Briggs D E G, Rust J. A great-appendage arthropod with a radial mouth from the Lower Devonian Hunsrück Slate, Germany. Science, 2009, 323: 771–773CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  12. 12.
    Chen J Y, Zhou G Q. Biology of the Chengjiang fauna. Bull Natl Mus Nat Sci, 1997, 1: 11–83Google Scholar
  13. 13.
    Steiner M, Zhu M Y, Zhao Y L, et al. Lower Cambrian Burgess Shale-type fossil associations of south China. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol, 2005, 220: 129–152CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  14. 14.
    Luo H L, Li Y, Hu S X, et al. Early Cambrian Malong Fauna and Guanshan Biota from Eastern Yunnan, China (in Chinese). Kunming: Yunnan Science and Technology Press, 2008. 1–134Google Scholar
  15. 15.
    Hu S X, Zhu M Y, Steiner M, et al. Biodiversity and taphonomy of the Early Cambrian Guanshan biota, eastern Yunnan. Sci China Earth Sci, 2010, 53: 1765–1773CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  16. 16.
    Zhao Y L, Zhu M Y, Babcock, et al. The Kaili Biota: Marine Organisms from 508 Million Years Ago. Guiyang: Guizhou Science and Technology Press, 2011. 162–163Google Scholar
  17. 17.
    Huang D Y, Wang Y Y, Gao J, et al. A new anomalocaridid frontal appendage from the middle Cambrian Mantou Formation of the Tangshan area, Hebei. Acta Palaeontol Sin, 2012, 51: 411–415Google Scholar
  18. 18.
    Hou X G, Aldridge R J, Bergström J, et al. The Cambrian Fossils of Chengjiang, China: The Flowering of Early Animal Life. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2004. 1–233Google Scholar
  19. 19.
    Hou X G, Bergström J, Yang J. Distinguishing anomalocaridids from arthropods and priapulids. Geol J, 2006, 41: 259–269CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  20. 20.
    Chen L Z, Luo H L, Hu S X, et al. Early Cambrian Chengjiang Fauna in Eastern Yunnan, China (in Chinese). Kunming: Yunnan Science and Technology Press, 2002. 1–199Google Scholar
  21. 21.
    Lieberman B S. A new soft-bodied fauna: The Pioche Formation of Nevada. J Paleontol, 2003, 77: 674–690CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  22. 22.
    Briggs, D E G. Anomalocaris, the largest known Cambrian arthropod. J Palaeontol, 1979, 22: 631–664Google Scholar
  23. 23.
    Vannier J, Chen J Y. The Early Cambrian food chain: New evidence from fossil aggregates in the Maotianshan Shale biota, SW China. Palaios, 2005, 20: 3–26CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  24. 24.
    Nedin C. Anomalocaris predation on non-mineralized and mineralized trilobites. Geology, 1999, 27: 987–990CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  25. 25.
    Babcock L. Trilobites in Paleozoic predator-prey systems, and their role in reorganization of early Paleozoic ecosystems: In: Kelley P H, Kowalewski M, Hansen T A, eds. Predator-prey Interactions in the Fossil Record. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Press, 2003. 55–92CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© The Author(s) 2013

Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and PalaeontologyChinese Academy of SciencesNanjingChina
  2. 2.Chengdu Institute of Geology and Mineral ResourcesChengduChina

Personalised recommendations