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Updated: 10 May 2006 |
AbstractThe following is a list of Ediacaran (or Ediacaran-like) taxa which have been reported from the Cambrian. The list is not exhaustive. Keywords: Ediacaran, Cambrian |
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IntroductionFor many years, Ediacarans were believed to have been confined to the Vendian. Indeed, there was speculation (e.g. Seilacher 1984) that a mass extinction had terminated the Vendian and eliminated the Ediacaran biota. Since about 1990, however, there has been a steadily accumulating body of Cambrian age discoveries, and a belief that a number of Cambrian forms are, in fact, the direct descendants of Ediacarans. |
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| Note, however, that some of these taxa may pre-date the small shelly faunas. If they all do, then their "Cambrian-ness" may indicate nothing more than that the base of the Cambrian - which is, after all, an arbitrary, man-made construct - has been drawn "too low." | |
| The following list of Ediacaran Survivors is drawn from references I have come across in the course of preparing a general account of the Ediacaran biota. It is not intended to be comprehensive or even representative, but may provide a useful indication of the range of described taxa. |
| Vendian Taxon | Cambrian Taxon | Notes and References |
| Charniodiscus | Thaumaptilon | Burgess Shale (Conway Morris 1993; rejected by Gehling 1991, pp. 204-207) |
| Conomedusites | Conulata | Gehling 1991, p. 219 |
| Cyclomedusa | Cyclomedusa sp. | Digermul Peninsula (Crimes & McIlroy 1999) |
| Ediacaria flindersi | Ediacaria booleyi Crimes, Insole & Williams 1995 | Booley Bay (Crimes, Insole & Williams 1995); |
| Ediacaria flindersi | Velumbrella czarnocki | Stasinska 1960 |
| Ediacaria flindersi | ? | Pickerill 1982 |
| Kullingia (spp?) | Kullingia (spp?) | Crimes & McIlroy 1999 (review) |
| Kullingia concentrica Glaessner 1979 | Jensen, Gehling & Droser 1998 | |
| Nimbia occlusa | Nimbia occlusa Fedonkin 1980 | Booley Bay (Crimes, Insole & Williams 1995); Digermul Peninsula (Crimes & McIlroy 1999) |
| Ovatoscutum | Plectodiscus | Runnegar & Fedonkin 1992 |
| Ovatoscutum | Silurovelella | Runnegar & Fedonkin 1992 |
| Parvancorina minchami | Skania fragilis Walcott 1931 | Comparison originally put forward by Della Cave & Simonetta 1975; rejected by Glaessner 1980; reasserted by Gehling 1991, p. 207. |
| Praecambridium | Mobergella Hedström 1923; Discinella Hall 1872 | Glaessner & Wade 1966, p. 624 |
| Pteridinium | Emmonaspis cambrensis | Conway Morris 1993 |
| Stromatoveris psygmoglena Shu, Conway Morris & Han 2006 | Chengjiang, Yunnan, China (Shu et al. 2006) | |
| Tirasiana ??? | Tirasiana sp. | Digermul Peninsula (Crimes & McIlroy 1999) |
ReferencesConway Morris, S. (1993): Ediacaran-like fossils from the Cambrian Burgess Shale type faunas of North America. Palaeontology 36: 593-635. Crimes, T.P.; Insole, A.; Williams, B.P.J. 1995: A rigid-bodied Ediacaran biota from Upper Cambrian strata in Co. Wexford, Eire. Geological Journal 30: 89-109. Della Cave & Simonetta 1975 Gehling, James G. 1991: The case for Ediacaran fossil roots to the metazoan tree. Geological Society of India Memoir 20: 181-224. Glaessner, M.F. 1980 Glaessner, Martin F.; Wade, Mary 1966: The late Precambrian fossils from Ediacara, South Australia. Palaeontology 9 (4), pp. 599-628. Jensen, Sören; Gehling, James G.; Droser, Mary L. 1998: Ediacara-Type Fossils in Cambrian Sediments. Nature 393: 567-569. Pickerill, R.K. 1982: Cambrian Medusoids from the St. John Group, southwestern New Brunswick. In Current Research, Part B. Geological Survey of Canada 82-1B: 71-76. Runnegar, B.; Fedonkin, M.A. 1992: Proterozoic metazoan body fossils. In Schopf, J.W.; Klein, C. (eds.) 1992: The Proterozoic biosphere: A Multidisciplinary Study. Cambridge, v. 1: 369-388. Seilacher, A. (1984): Late Precambrian and Early Cambrian metazoa: Preservational or real extinctions? In Holland, H.D.; Trendall, A.F. Patterns of change in earth evolution, Springer Verlag, pp. 159-168. Shu, D.-G.; Conway Morris, S.; Han, J. 2006 in Shu, D-G.; Conway Morris, S.; Han, J.; Li, Y.; Zhang, X.-L.; Hua, H.; Zhang, Z.-F.; Liu, J.-N.; Guo, J.-F.; Yao, Y.; Yasui, K. 2006: Lower Cambrian vendobionts from China and early diploblast evolution. Science 312: 731-734. Stasinska, A. 1960: Velumbrella czarnockii n. gen., n. sp. - Meduse du Cambrien Inferieur des Monts de Sainte-Croix. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 5: 337-346. |
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