ORCID Profile
0000-0002-2277-7350
Current Organisations
University of Ghana
,
Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM) - CSIC
,
Macquarie University
,
Macquarie University Faculty of Science and Engineering
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Research Topics
In Research Link Australia (RLA), "Research Topics" refer to ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes. These topics are either sourced from ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes listed in researchers' related grants or generated by a large language model (LLM) based on their publications.
Top 5 Research Topics
ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)
Palaeontology (incl. Palynology) | Phylogeny and Comparative Analysis | Geology | Geochemistry | Evolutionary Biology | Animal Systematics and Taxonomy | Geochronology | Organic Geochemistry | Isotope Geochemistry
ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)
Expanding Knowledge in the Earth Sciences | Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences | Oil and Gas Exploration | Expanding Knowledge in the Chemical Sciences |
Related Links
Publications
Mollusks from the upper Shackleton Limestone (Cambrian Series 2), Central Transantarctic Mountains, East Antarctica
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 09-01-2019
DOI: 10.1017/JPA.2018.84
Abstract: An assemblage of Cambrian Series 2, Stages 3–4, conchiferan mollusks from the Shackleton Limestone, Transantarctic Mountains, East Antarctica, is formally described and illustrated. The fauna includes one bivalve, one macromollusk, and 10 micromollusks, including the first description of the species Xinjispira simplex Zhou and Xiao, 1984 outside North China. The new fauna shows some similarity to previously described micromollusks from lower Cambrian glacial erratics from the Antarctic Peninsula. The fauna, mainly composed of steinkerns, is relatively low ersity, but the presence of diagnostic taxa, including helcionelloid Davidonia rostrata (Zhou and Xiao, 1984), bivalve Pojetaia runnegari Jell, 1980, cambroclavid Cambroclavus absonus Conway Morris in Bengtson et al., 1990, and bradoriid Spinospitella coronata Skovsted et al., 2006, as well as the botsfordiid brachiopod Schizopholis yorkensis (Ushatinskaya and Holmer in Gravestock et al., 2001), in the overlying Holyoake Formation correlates the succession to the Dailyatia odyssei Zone (Cambrian Stages 3–4) in South Australia.
Microscale Petrographic, Trace Element, and Isotopic Constraints on Glauconite Diagenesis in Altered Sedimentary Sequences: Implications for Glauconite Geochronology
Publisher: American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Date: 04-2023
DOI: 10.1029/2022GC010795
Abstract: Glauconite is an authigenic clay mineral that is common in marine sedimentary successions. Dating of glauconite to determine the depositional age of sedimentary sequences has a long history but has fallen into disfavor due to the difficulty of obtaining “pure” glauconite separates. Recent advances in sedimentary petrography and reaction cell mass spectrometry permit rapid in situ Rb‐Sr dating of carefully screened glauconite grains. However, glauconite remains susceptible to burial alteration so that successful application of in situ Rb‐Sr glauconite geochronology requires improved, microscale constraints on the impact of postdepositional alteration on glauconite Rb‐Sr systematics and articulation of robust criteria for identifying grains suitable for geochronology. Here, we address these questions by combining SEM‐EDS mineral mapping, geochemical characterization, and in situ Rb‐Sr dating of glauconite grains in partially altered lower Cambrian sedimentary sequences from the Arrowie and Amadeus basins in Australia. Our approach provides information at high spatial resolution, representing new insights into the interplay between source material, burial fluids, and diagenetic processes. Among the different glauconite classes, which we classify based on alteration and inclusion type, only the primary apatite‐bearing “pristine” glauconite returns an age within the error of the expected stratigraphic age. We attribute the preservation of a depositional Rb‐Sr age to the influence of Sr‐rich, alteration‐resistant apatite and the limited permeability of the clay‐rich strata hosting these grains. We conclude that our combined petrographic–geochemical screening approach holds considerable potential for identifying the best preserved glauconite grains for in situ Rb‐Sr geochronology.
Global correlation of the early Cambrian of South Australia: Shelly fauna of the Dailyatia odyssei Zone
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2017
Paterimitra pyramidalisfrom South Australia: scleritome, shell structure and evolution of a lower Cambrian stem group brachiopod
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 08-10-2013
DOI: 10.1111/PALA.12072
Ontogeny and evolutionary significance of a new acrotretide brachiopod genus from Cambrian Series 2 of South China
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 07-08-2020
The oldest Cambrian trilobite – brachiopod association in South China
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2021
A Darriwilian (Middle Ordovician) bivalve-dominated molluscan fauna from the Stairway Sandstone, Amadeus Basin, central Australia
Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk Instytut Paleobiologii (Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences)
Date: 2016
Shelly fauna from the Cambrian (Miaolingian, Guzhangian) Shannon Formation and the SPICE event in the Amadeus Basin, Northern Territory
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 10-2019
The oldest bivalved arthropods from the early Cambrian of East Gondwana: Systematics, biostratigraphy and biogeography
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2011
One Tree Reef Foraminifera: a relic of the pre-colonial Great Barrier Reef
Publisher: Geological Society of London
Date: 22-11-2023
Abstract: Benthic Foraminifera are important elements of coral reef ecosystems and valuable proxies for monitoring reef health in the face of local, regional and global stressors. Here Foraminifera preserved in a sediment core from the One Tree Reef (OTR) lagoon on the southern Great Barrier Reef (GBR) are used to quantify ecological changes associated with European colonization (early 1800s) and the subsequent industrialization of Australia (1950s onward). Core s les are compared to published benthic grab s les from three reefs to compare spatial and temporal variation. Standard measures of richness, ersity and foraminiferal assemblage composition indicate significant differences between the Recent assemblages of OTR lagoon and those from Heron and Wistari reef lagoons. However, there is no discernible change in the OTR lagoon core assemblages from the last four centuries in any of the richness or ersity indices examined. While benthic grabs likely unders le infaunal Foraminifera relative to core s les, these foraminiferal assemblages indicate the OTR lagoon contains a living ex le of a pre-colonial GBR lagoon ecosystem. Without cores from Heron and Wistari it is unknown if their foraminiferal assemblages have changed due to recent anthropogenic activity or if they have always been distinct.
The TommotiidCamenella reticulosafrom the Early Cambrian of South Australia: Morphology, Scleritome Reconstruction, and Phylogeny
Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk Instytut Paleobiologii (Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences)
Date: 09-2009
Palaeoscolecid scleritome fragments withHadimopanellaplates from the early Cambrian of South Australia
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 16-06-2009
DOI: 10.1017/S0016756809990082
Abstract: Phosphatized articulated palaeoscolecid scleritome fragments with attached Hadimopanella Gedik, 1977 plates are described from the lower Cambrian Mernmerna Formation of South Australia. Hadimopanella is principally known from single, isolated, button-shaped, phosphatic sclerites. The new articulated material from South Australia reveals for the first time the configuration of plates referable to Hadimopanella within the scleritome. The scleritome fragments represent the main trunk sections of the cuticle with anterior and posterior terminations lacking. Each annulus on the trunk is ornamented by rows of irregularly alternating Hadimopanella plates. The large majority of plates display a single, centrally located, conical node referable to the form species H. apicata Wrona, 1982. However, in idual plates display considerable morphological variation with plates situated along the flattened trunk margin identical to the form species H. antarctica Wrona, 1987. The South Australian material displays the detailed scleritome configuration of cuticular plates and platelets and demonstrates irrefutably that plates of the form species H. apicata and H. antarctica occur as mineralized cuticular elements on the same palaeoscolecid scleritome.
An early Cambrian agglutinated tubular lophophorate with brachiopod characters
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 15-05-2014
DOI: 10.1038/SREP04682
A new lower Cambrian shelly fossil biostratigraphy for South Australia: Reply
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2017
Sedimentology and integrated chronostratigraphy of the lower Heatherdale Shale (Cambrian, stages 2–3), Stansbury Basin, South Australia
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 11-12-2020
DOI: 10.1017/S0016756820001260
Abstract: Major progress has recently been made regarding the biostratigraphy, lithostratigraphy and isotope chemostratigraphy of the lower Cambrian successions in South Australia, in particular of the Arrowie Basin, which has facilitated robust global stratigraphic correlations. However, lack of faunal and sedimentological data from the lower Cambrian Normanville Group in the eastern Stansbury Basin, South Australia – particularly the transition from the Fork Tree Limestone to the Heatherdale Shale – has prevented resolution of the age range, lithofacies, depositional environments and regional correlation of this succession. Here we present detailed sedimentologic, biostratigraphic and chemostratigraphic data through this transition in the eastern Stansbury Basin. Three lithofacies are identified that indicate a deepening depositional environment ranging from inner-mid-shelf (Lithofacies A and B) to outer shelf (Lithofacies C). New δ 13 C chemostratigraphic data capture global positive excursion III within the lower Heatherdale Shale. Recovered bradoriid Sinskolutella cuspidata supports an upper Stage 2 ( Micrina etheridgei Zone). The combined geochemistry and palaeontology data reveal that the lower Heatherdale Shale is older than previously appreciated. This integrated study improves regional chronostratigraphic resolution and interbasinal correlation, and better constrains the depositional setting of this important lower Cambrian package from the eastern Stansbury Basin, South Australia.
Sclerite fusion in the problematic early Cambrian spine-like fossil Stoibostrombus from South Australia
Publisher: Czech Geological Survey
Date: 14-07-2011
Evolutionary significance of a middle Cambrian (Series 3) in situ occurrence of the pedunculate rhynchonelliform brachiopod Nisusia sulcata
Publisher: Scandinavian University Press / Universitetsforlaget AS
Date: 07-2018
DOI: 10.1111/LET.12254
Trilobites from the Middle Ordovician Stairway Sandstone, Amadeus Basin, central Australia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 11-09-2013
Brachiopod-dominated communities and depositional environment of the Guanshan Konservat-Lagerstätte, eastern Yunnan, China
Publisher: Geological Society of London
Date: 18-09-2020
DOI: 10.1144/JGS2020-043
The scleritome of Paterimitra : an Early Cambrian stem group brachiopod from South Australia
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 20-01-2009
Abstract: Early Cambrian tommotiids are problematic fossil metazoans with external organophosphatic sclerites that have been considered to be basal members of the lophophorate stem group. Tommotiids are almost exclusively known from isolated or rarely fused in idual sclerites, which made previous reconstructions of the actual organism highly conjectural. However, the recent discovery of the first articulated specimens of the tommotiid Eccentrotheca revealed a tubular sclerite arrangement (scleritome) that limited the possible life habit to sessile filter feeding and thus further supported a lophophorate affinity. Here, we report the first articulated specimens of a second tommotiid taxon, Paterimitra from the Early Cambrian of the Arrowie Basin, South Australia. Articulated specimens of Paterimitra are composed of two bilaterally symmetrical sclerite types and an unresolved number of small, asymmetrical and irregular crescent-shaped sclerites that attached to the anterior margin of the symmetrical sclerites. Together, the sclerites form an open cone in which the symmetrical sclerites are joined together and form a small posterior opening near the base of the scleritome, while the irregular crescent-shaped sclerites defined a broad anterior opening. The coniform scleritome of Paterimitra is interpreted to have attached to hard substrates via a pedicle that emerged through the small posterior opening (sometimes forming a tube) and was probably a sessile filter feeder. The scleritome of Paterimitra can be derived from the tubular scleritome of Eccentrotheca by modification of basal sclerites and reduction in tube height, and probably represents a more derived member of the brachiopod stem group with the paired symmetrical sclerites possibly homologous to brachiopod valves.
Deep sea benthic foraminifera as proxies for palaeoclimatic fluctuations in the New Caledonia Basin, over the last 140,000years
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2013
A new chancelloriid from the Emu Bay Shale (Cambrian Stage 4) of South Australia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 28-01-2019
First record of a bivalved larval shell in Early Cambrian tommotiids and its phylogenetic significance
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-01-2011
Sclerite assembly, articulation and protective system of Lower Devonian machaeridians
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 04-11-2021
DOI: 10.1002/SPP2.1410
Abstract: Machaeridians are a unique group of Palaeozoic annelids that secreted a calcitic armour consisting of dorsally interlocking sclerites running along the entire length of the animal. Preserved remains are most commonly found as disarticulated sclerites, although rare articulated specimens have also been preserved as moulds, recrystallized calcite and even pyrite replacement. These preservational modes unfortunately have obscured direct observation of the dorsal interlocking hinge, thus impeding our understanding of the functional protection offered by this biological armour. Herein, we document and describe articulated silicified lepidocoleids ( Lepidocoleus c aliburnus sp. nov., Lepidocoleus shurikenus sp. nov. and Lepidocoleus sp.) in association with isolated sclerites of Lepidocoleus cf. kuangguoduni from the Lower Devonian (Pragian) Garra Formation of New South Wales, Australia. Articulated specimens include straight and enrolled scleritome configurations possessing opposing and alternate dorsal hinge articulation, respectively. Silicified scleritomes were analysed using x‐ray microtomography to investigate the three‐dimensional morphology, cross‐sectional geometry and dorsal hinge articulation and configuration of in idual sclerites in the armour assembly. Virtual dissection of articulated specimens alongside reconstructions of isolated sclerites reveal distinctions in sclerite morphology across opposing and alternate articulation mechanisms, including a novel system not previously observed in lepidocoleids. The combination of heterogeneous sclerite cross‐sectional geometry with sclerite overlap also serves to maintain a uniform thickness of the armour assembly and presumably improve resistance to predatory attack.
A new early Cambrian bradoriid (Arthropoda) assemblage from the northern Flinders Ranges, South Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2014
New evolutionary and ecological advances in deciphering the Cambrian explosion of animal life
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 2018
DOI: 10.1017/JPA.2017.140
Middle Ordovician brachiopods from the Stairway Sandstone, Amadeus Basin, central Australia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 21-11-2013
Early Cambrian chronostratigraphy and geochronology of South Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2018
A model for height and sex prediction from percutaneous lengths of forearm bones
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 16-03-2018
The Early Cambrian tommotiid Micrina , a sessile bivalved stem group brachiopod
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 24-06-2008
Abstract: The tannuolinid Micrina belongs to the tommotiids—a common and widely distributed, but poorly understood, group of Early Cambrian fossil metazoans with multiple external organophosphatic sclerites. Recent findings of sessile articulated tommotiid scleritomes indicate that previous reconstructions of tommotiids as slug-like bilaterians with a dorsal cover of sclerites require detailed re-evaluation. Comparative ultrastructural work has already indicated that the tommotiids might be a sister group to the Brachiopoda, with Micrina representing the most derived and brachiopod-like bimembrate tommotiid. Here we further develop and strengthen this controversial phylogenetic model with a new reconstruction of Micrina , where the two types of sclerites—mitral and sellate—belong to a near bilaterally symmetrical bivalved sessile organism. This new scleritome configuration was tested by recreating an articulated bivalved Micrina from isolated mitral and sellate sclerites both sclerites have muscles that would have enabled movement of the sclerites. The mitral and sellate sclerites of Micrina are considered to be homologous with the ventral and dorsal valves, respectively, of organophosphatic linguliform brachiopods, indicating that a simple type of filter-feeding within an enclosed bivalved shell had started to evolve in derived tannuolinids. The new reconstruction also indicates that the phylogenetic range of ‘bivalved’, sessile lophophorates is larger than previously suspected.
Chancelloriid sclerites from the lowermost Cambrian of North China and discussion of sclerite taxonomy
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2019
Taphonomy and palaeoecology of the emuellid trilobite Balcoracania dailyi (early Cambrian, South Australia)
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2007
A new siphonotretid brachiopod from the Silurian of central-western New South Wales, Australia
Publisher: Australian Museum
Date: 13-08-2003
The Collaborative Seismic Earth Model: Generation 1
Publisher: American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Date: 12-05-2018
DOI: 10.1029/2018GL077338
A SNARE required for retrograde transport to the endoplasmic reticulum
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date: 31-07-2003
Abstract: SNAREs (soluble N -ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptors) are central components of the machinery mediating membrane fusion in all eukaryotic cells. Sequence analysis of the yeast genome revealed a previously uncharacterized SNARE, S NARE- l ike t ail-anchored protein 1 (Slt1). Slt1 is an essential protein localized in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). It forms a SNARE complex with Sec22 and the ER syntaxin Ufe1. Down-regulation of Slt1 levels leads to improper secretion of proteins normally resident in the ER. We suggest that Slt1 is a component of the SNAREpin required for retrograde traffic to the ER. Based on the previously reported association with Ufe1 and Sec22, Sec20 likely contributes the fourth SNARE to the SNAREpin.
Paterimitra pyramidalis Laurie, 1986, the first tommotiid discovered from the early Cambrian of North China
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2018
Early Cambrian organophosphatic brachiopods from the Xinji Formation, at Shuiyu section, Shanxi Province, North China
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2020
Ancestral billingsellides and the evolution and phylogenetic relationships of early rhynchonelliform brachiopods
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 04-01-2013
Trilobites from the Giles Creek Dolostone (Cambrian Series 3, Stage 5; Templetonian) Amadeus Basin, central Australia
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-02-2015
DOI: 10.1002/SPP2.1011
A sclerite-bearing stem group entoproct from the early Cambrian and its implications
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 17-01-2013
DOI: 10.1038/SREP01066
Abstract: The Lophotrochozoa includes disparate tentacle-bearing sessile protostome animals, which apparently appeared in the Cambrian explosion, but lack an uncontested fossil record. Here we describe abundant well preserved material of Cotyledion tylodes Luo et Hu, 1999, from the Cambrian (Series 2) Chengjiang deposits, reinterpreted here as a stem-group entoproct. The entoproct affinity is supported by the sessile body plan and interior soft anatomy. The body consists of an upper calyx and a lower elongate stalk with a distal holdfast. The soft anatomy includes a U-shaped gut with a mouth and aboral anus ringed by retractable marginal tentacles. Cotyledion differs from extant entoprocts in being larger and having the calyx and the stalk covered by numerous loosely-spaced external sclerites. The description of entoprocts from the Chengjiang biota traces the ancestry of yet another lophotrochozoan phylum back to the Cambrian radiation and has important implications for the earliest evolution of lophotrochozoans.
Brachiopods from the Byrd Group (Cambrian Series 2, Stage 4) Central Transantarctic Mountains, East Antarctica: biostratigraphy, phylogeny and systematics
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 05-02-2020
DOI: 10.1002/SPP2.1295
Camenellan tommotiids from the Cambrian Series 2 of East Antarctica: biostratigraphy, palaeobiogeography, and systematics
Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk Instytut Paleobiologii (Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences)
Date: 2021
Butterflies of the Cambrian benthos? Shield position in bradoriid arthropods
Publisher: Scandinavian University Press / Universitetsforlaget AS
Date: 10-2016
DOI: 10.1111/LET.12160
Associated conchs and opercula ofTriplicatella disdoma(Hyolitha) from the early Cambrian of South Australia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 02-01-2014
A review of the Cambrian biostratigraphy of South Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2006
Acute vision in the giant Cambrian predator Anomalocaris and the origin of compound eyes
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 12-2011
DOI: 10.1038/NATURE10689
Abstract: Until recently, intricate details of the optical design of non-biomineralized arthropod eyes remained elusive in Cambrian Burgess-Shale-type deposits, despite exceptional preservation of soft-part anatomy in such Konservat-Lagerstätten. The structure and development of ommatidia in arthropod compound eyes support a single origin some time before the latest common ancestor of crown-group arthropods, but the appearance of compound eyes in the arthropod stem group has been poorly constrained in the absence of adequate fossils. Here we report 2-3-cm paired eyes from the early Cambrian (approximately 515 million years old) Emu Bay Shale of South Australia, assigned to the Cambrian apex predator Anomalocaris. Their preserved visual surfaces are composed of at least 16,000 hexagonally packed ommatidial lenses (in a single eye), rivalling the most acute compound eyes in modern arthropods. The specimens show two distinct taphonomic modes, preserved as iron oxide (after pyrite) and calcium phosphate, demonstrating that disparate styles of early diagenetic mineralization can replicate the same type of extracellular tissue (that is, cuticle) within a single Burgess-Shale-type deposit. These fossils also provide compelling evidence for the arthropod affinities of anomalocaridids, push the origin of compound eyes deeper down the arthropod stem lineage, and indicate that the compound eye evolved before such features as a hardened exoskeleton. The inferred acuity of the anomalocaridid eye is consistent with other evidence that these animals were highly mobile visual predators in the water column. The existence of large, macrophagous nektonic predators possessing sharp vision--such as Anomalocaris--within the early Cambrian ecosystem probably helped to accelerate the escalatory 'arms race' that began over half a billion years ago.
The Cambrian System in the Arrowie Basin, Flinders Ranges, South Australia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 11-12-2018
Comments on Retallack, G. J. 2011: Problematic megafossils in Cambrian Palaeosols of South Australia
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-2012
The oldest brachiopods from the lower Cambrian of South Australia
Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk Instytut Paleobiologii (Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences)
Date: 2011
The operculum and mode of life of the lower Cambrian hyolith Cupitheca from South Australia and North China
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2016
Trilobites and agnostids from the Goyder Formation (Cambrian Series 3, Guzhangian; Mindyallan), Amadeus Basin, central Australia
Publisher: Magnolia Press
Date: 18-03-2018
DOI: 10.11646/ZOOTAXA.4396.1.1
Abstract: A new assemblage containing twenty-two species of trilobites and agnostids is described from the Goyder Formation (Cambrian Series 3) in the Ross River Syncline and Gardiner Ranges of the Amadeus Basin, Northern Territory, central Australia. New trilobite taxa described include the genus, Trephina gen. nov., and four new species Adelogonus prichardi sp. nov., Hebeia stewarti sp. nov., Liostracina joyceae sp. nov., and Trephina ranfordi sp. nov. Two agnostid taxa previously known only from Antarctica, Ammagnostus antarcticus Bentley, Jago & Cooper, 2009 and Hadragnostus helixensis Jago & Cooper, 2005, are also documented. Of the two agnostid species, the latter is the most age diagnostic, previously reported from the Cambrian Series 3 (Guzhangian late Mindyallan Glyptagnostus stolidotus Zone) Spurs Formation in Northern Victoria Land. This age for the Goyder Formation assemblage is supported by the co-occurrence of the trilobites Biaverta reineri Öpik, 1967, Blackwelderia repanda Öpik, 1967, Henadoparia integra Öpik, 1967, Monkaspis cf. travesi (Öpik, 1967), Nomadinis pristinus Öpik, 1967, Paraacidaspis? priscilla (Öpik, 1967), and Polycyrtaspis cf. flexuosa Öpik, 1967, also known from the late Mindyallan (G. stolidotus Zone) successions of the neighbouring Georgina Basin (Northern Territory and Queensland). The generic assemblage of the Goyder Formation is also similar to those from the Guzhangian (Mindyallan) of other parts of Australia (New South Wales, South Australia, and Western Australia), in addition to East Antarctica and North and South China.
Biomineralization of the Cambrian chancelloriids
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Date: 05-02-2021
DOI: 10.1130/G48428.1
Abstract: As extinct animals that flourished during the Cambrian explosion, chancelloriids have a unique body plan lacking guts but with a flexible integument and a suite of star-shaped, hollow sclerites. Due to this body plan, along with the paucity of knowledge on sclerite biomineralization, the phylogenetic position of chancelloriids within the Metazoa is still controversial. Integration of analyses of erse fossils from Cambrian stage 2 to the Wuliuan Stage of China and Australia indicates that chancelloriid sclerites possess an encasement-like organic layer and a fibrous aragonitic layer. The organic layer is inferred to be a specialized trait derived from the epidermal integument of the animal body. The sclerites were likely biomineralized by using the outer organic layer as a template to absorb cations and precipitate crystal nuclei, reflecting a strategy adopted by a range of eumetazoans with a developed epidermis. Therefore, the hypothesis that chancelloriids represent an epitheliozoan-grade animal and an early explorer of template-based biomineralization is supported.
Early Ordovician orthide brachiopods from Mount Arrowsmith, northwestern New South Wales, Australia
Publisher: Australian Museum
Date: 13-08-2003
Fossil evidence unveils an early Cambrian origin for Bryozoa
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 27-10-2021
DOI: 10.1038/S41586-021-04033-W
Abstract: Bryozoans (also known as ectoprocts or moss animals) are aquatic, dominantly sessile, filter-feeding lophophorates that construct an organic or calcareous modular colonial (clonal) exoskeleton 1–3 . The presence of six major orders of bryozoans with advanced polymorphisms in lower Ordovician rocks strongly suggests a Cambrian origin for the largest and most erse lophophorate phylum 2,4–8 . However, a lack of convincing bryozoan fossils from the Cambrian period has h ered resolution of the true origins and character assembly of the earliest members of the group. Here we interpret the millimetric, erect, bilaminate, secondarily phosphatized fossil Protomelission gatehousei 9 from the early Cambrian of Australia and South China as a potential stem-group bryozoan. The monomorphic zooid capsules, modular construction, organic composition and simple linear budding growth geometry represent a mixture of organic Gymnolaemata and biomineralized Stenolaemata character traits, with phylogenetic analyses identifying P. gatehousei as a stem-group bryozoan. This aligns the origin of phylum Bryozoa with all other skeletonized phyla in Cambrian Age 3, pushing back its first occurrence by approximately 35 million years. It also reconciles the fossil record with molecular clock estimations of an early Cambrian origination and subsequent Ordovician radiation of Bryozoa following the acquisition of a carbonate skeleton 10–13 .
An encrusting kleptoparasite-host interaction from the early Cambrian
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 02-06-2020
DOI: 10.1038/S41467-020-16332-3
Abstract: Parasite–host systems are pervasive in nature but are extremely difficult to convincingly identify in the fossil record. Here we report quantitative evidence of parasitism in the form of a unique, enduring life association between tube-dwelling organisms encrusted to densely clustered shells of a monospecific organophosphatic brachiopod assemblage from the lower Cambrian (Stage 4) of South China. Brachiopods with encrusting tubes have decreased biomass (indicating reduced fitness) compared to in iduals without tubes. The encrusting tubes orient tightly in vectors matching the laminar feeding currents of the host, suggesting kleptoparasitism. With no convincing parasite–host interactions known from the Ediacaran, this widespread sessile association reveals intimate parasite–host animal systems arose in early Cambrian benthic communities and their emergence may have played a key role in driving the evolutionary and ecological innovations associated with the Cambrian radiation.
A new lower Cambrian shelly fossil biostratigraphy for South Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2016
Oikozetetes from the early Cambrian of South Australia: implications for halkieriid affinities and functional morphology
Publisher: Scandinavian University Press / Universitetsforlaget AS
Date: 06-2009
Characterization of organophosphatic brachiopod shells: spectroscopic assessment of collagen matrix and biomineral components
Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
Date: 2020
DOI: 10.1039/D0RA07523J
Abstract: The shells of linguloid brachiopods such as Lingula and Discinisca are inorganic–organic nanocomposites with a mineral phase of calcium phosphate (Ca-phosphate).
Stromatolite Construction, Biofacies and Biomarkers in the Lower Cambrian Hawker Group, Arrowie Basin, South Australia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 12-2018
Microdictyonplates from the lower Cambrian Ajax Limestone of South Australia: Implications for species taxonomy and diversity
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 09-2011
Biomacromolecules in recent phosphate-shelled brachiopods: identification and characterization of chitin matrix
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 14-09-2021
DOI: 10.1007/S10853-021-06487-9
Abstract: Phosphate-shelled brachiopods differ in filter-feeding lifestyle, with Lingula anatina an active infaunal burrower, and Discinisca tenuis a shallow marine epibenthic animal. The shells of these animals are built of organophosphatic constituents, the organic fibres/sheets reinforced with calcium phosphate to provide a sophisticated ultrastructural robustness. This investigation examined the nature of the organic fibres in order to improve understanding of how living organisms produce hierarchically structured biomaterials. Unlike powdered s les commonly used in previous studies, organic fibres were isolated for the first time and the shell fractions were purified, in order to study the content and nature of the biopolymer fibres. Biochemical methods including Calcofluor staining revealed a chitin matrix. Ultrastructural analysis, thermal gravimetric analysis, and spectroscopic analyses show that the core polysaccharide framework is composed of layers of β -chitin sheets and/or fibrils that are coated with a fibrous organic matrix. There is more chitin matrix in the L. anatina shells (26.6 wt.%) compared to the D. tenuis shells (12.9 wt.%). Taken together, the data show that the chitin matrix contributes to increased skeletal strength, making L. anatina highly adapted for life as an active burrower. In comparison, D. tenuis contains less chitin and lives as attached epibenthos in a shallow marine environment. First spectroscopic evidence of β-chitin sheets in recent organophosphatic brachiopods
First report of the early Cambrian stem group brachiopod Mickwitzia from East Gondwana
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2009
EARLY CAMBRIAN TRILOBITES FROM ANGORICHINA, FLINDERS RANGES, SOUTH AUSTRALIA, WITH A NEW ASSEMBLAGE FROM THE PARARAIA BUNYEROOENSIS ZONE
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 2007
Early Cambrian shelly fossils from the White Point Conglomerate, Kangaroo Island, South Australia
Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk Instytut Paleobiologii (Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences)
Date: 2019
Multiscale full waveform inversion
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 29-04-2013
DOI: 10.1093/GJI/GGT118
Scleritome construction, biofacies, biostratigraphy and systematics of the tommotiid Eccentrotheca helenia sp. nov. from the Early Cambrian of South Australia
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-2011
Go large or go conical: allometric trajectory of an early Cambrian acrotretide brachiopod
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 28-07-2021
DOI: 10.1111/PALA.12568
Abstract: Acrotretides are extinct micromorphic brachiopods that exhibited considerable morphological variation during their rapid evolution in the early Palaeozoic. The plano‐conical shells of acrotretides are distinct in comparison to other brachiopod groups and despite their ersity and abundance in early Palaeozoic communities, their origins, early evolution, life history and phylogeny are poorly understood. Here, we employ advanced geometric morphometrics to quantitatively investigate ontogenetic variation and allometry in the ventral valve of the oldest known acrotretide species from the early Cambrian of South China. Our results identify substantial shape variation for Eohadrotreta zhenbaensis , along with a parabolic morphological trajectory through ontogeny, demonstrating a remarkable reversal to PC1 values equivalent to those obtained for juveniles, during later ontogenetic stages. The evolutionary novel body plan (diminutive and plano‐conical) of Acrotretida was established gradually during two phases of allometry, formed initially during the final stage of the Cambrian evolutionary radiation from an ancestral low, equivalved lingulide body plan. The development of a conical shaped valve seems to have resulted in an overall smaller body size, when compared with non‐conical forms. The heterochronic processes responsible for generating these ontogenetic modifications at different allometric phases may have facilitated the evolutionary ersification of acrotretide brachiopods during the early Palaeozoic.
Homologous skeletal secretion in tommotiids and brachiopods
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Date: 12-2009
DOI: 10.1130/G30323A.1
BIOTURBATORS AS ECOSYSTEM ENGINEERS: ASSESSING CURRENT MODELS
Publisher: Society for Sedimentary Geology
Date: 29-12-2022
Abstract: Bioturbating organisms can dramatically alter the physical, chemical, and hydrological properties of the sediment and promote or hinder microbial growth. They are a classic ex le of “ecosystem engineers” as they alter the availability of resources to other species. Multiple evolutionary hypotheses evoke bioturbation as a possible driver for historical ecological change. To test these hypotheses, researchers need reliable and reproducible methods for estimating the impact of bioturbation in ancient environments. Early efforts to record and compare this impact through geologic time focused on the degree of bioturbation (e.g., bioturbation indices), the depth of bioturbation (e.g., bioturbation depth), or the structure of the infaunal community (e.g., tiering, ecospace utilization). Models which combine several parameters (e.g., functional groups, tier, motility, sediment interaction style) have been proposed and applied across the geological timescale in recent years. Here, we review all models that characterize the impact of bioturbators on the sedimentary environment (i.e., ‘ecosystem engineering'), in both modern and fossil sediments, and propose several questions. What are the assumptions of each approach? Are the current models appropriate for the metrics they wish to measure? Are they robust and reproducible? Our review highlights the nature of the sedimentary environment as an important parameter when characterizing ecosystem engineering intensity and outlines considerations for a best-practice model to measure the impact of bioturbation in geological datasets.
Fauna and biostratigraphy of the Cambrian (Series 2, Stage 4; Ordian) Tempe Formation (Pertaoorrta Group), Amadeus Basin, Northern Territory
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 29-09-2014
First occurrence of a new Ocruranus-like helcionelloid mollusc from the lower Cambrian of East Gondwana
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2012
Watsonella crosbyi from the lower Cambrian (Terreneuvian, Stage 2) Normanville Group in South Australia
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 21-10-2016
DOI: 10.1017/S0016756816000704
Abstract: Correlation of lower Cambrian strata is often confounded by provincialism of key fauna. The widespread occurrence of the micromollusc Watsonella crosbyi Grabau, 1900 is therefore an important biostratigraphic signpost with potential for international correlation of lower Cambrian successions. Previous correlations of W. crosbyi from Australia (Normanville Group) suggested an Atdabanian- to Botoman-equivalent age. However, in the upper part of the Mount Terrible Formation, stratigraphic ranges of W. crosbyi and Aldanella sp. cf. golubevi overlap prior to the incoming of vertically burrowed ‘piperock’, which is indicative of an age no earlier than Cambrian Stage 2. The stratigraphic range of W. crosbyi in the Normanville Group, South Australia correlates with the ranges of the taxon in China, France, Mongolia and Siberia (though not Newfoundland). The new Australian data add further support for considering the first occurrence of W. crosbyi a good potential candidate for defining the base of Cambrian Stage 2. The stratigraphic range of W. crosbyi through the lower Cambrian Normanville Group has been determined based on collections from measured sections. Although rare, W. crosbyi is part of an assemblage of micromolluscs including Bemella sp., Parailsanella sp. cf. murenica and a sinistral form of Aldanella ( A. sp. cf. A. golubevi ). Other fauna present include Australohalkieria sp., Eremactis mawsoni , chancelloriids and Cupitheca sp.
New Data on Oikozetetes (Mollusca, Halkieriidae) from the Lower Cambrian of South Australia
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 09-2014
DOI: 10.1666/13-137
Abstract: A new species of Oikozetetes , O. mounti n. sp. is described from the upper Mernmerna Formation (equivalent to Cambrian Series 2) in the eastern Flinders Ranges, South Australia. Description of both shell morphotypes (morph A and B) from the same stratigraphic horizon favors the interpretation of a two-shelled scleritome for Oikozetetes . Identification of at least two types of halkieriid sclerite (palmates and siculates) in stratigraphic association with the Halkieria -like shells of Oikozetetes suggests that these elements are derived from the same scleritome. This provides evidence against previous suggestions that the Gondwanan species was aspiculate the scleritome arrangement is interpreted to be similar to Halkieria evangelista Conway Morris and Peel, 1995 and supports placement in the family Halkieriidae Poulsen, 1967. Comparison of modes of accretionary growth in Oikozetetes shell morphotypes to Halkieria shells and terminal plates in modern polyplacophorans, supports a scleritome model that places shell morphs A and B in posterior and anterior locations, respectively, along the axis of the body.
From the Lighthouse: Interdisciplinary Reflections on Light
Publisher: Routledge
Date: 27-04-2018
Early Cambrian record of failed durophagy and shell repair in an epibenthic mollusc
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 03-04-2007
Abstract: Predation is arguably one of the main driving forces of early metazoan evolution, yet the fossil record of predation during the Ediacaran–Early Cambrian transition is relatively poor. Here, we present direct evidence of failed durophagous (shell-breaking) predation and subsequent shell repair in the Early Cambrian (Botoman) epibenthic mollusc Marocella from the Mernmerna Formation and Oraparinna Shale in the Flinders Ranges, South Australia. This record pushes back the first appearance of durophagy on molluscs by approximately 40 Myr.
Using laser micropyrolysis to assess potential relationships between Cambrian tommotiids and organophosphatic brachiopods
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2021
The scleritome of Eccentrotheca from the Lower Cambrian of South Australia: Lophophorate affinities and implications for tommotiid phylogeny
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Date: 2008
DOI: 10.1130/G24385A.1
Eldonioids with associated trace fossils from the lower Cambrian Emu Bay Shale Konservat-Lagerstätte of South Australia
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 2018
DOI: 10.1017/JPA.2018.6
Abstract: Rare specimens of eldonioids recovered from the lower Cambrian (Series 2, Stage 4) Emu Bay Shale (EBS) Konservat-Lagerstätte represent the first record of the group for the Cambrian of East Gondwana. The disc-shaped body of the EBS taxon bears fine concentric corrugations on the dorsal surface and, ventrally, a series of internal lobes that have primary and secondary bifurcations, as well as a coiled sac. It appears to be most similar to Rotadiscus and Pararotadiscus of the Cambrian Chengjiang and Kaili biotas of South China, respectively. While the structure of the internal lobes would indicate that this occurrence in the EBS represents a new taxon within the Rotadiscidae, lack of detail regarding the precise number of internal lobes and the condition of the circumoral tentacles warrants a more conservative approach in leaving the genus and species under open nomenclature. The EBS specimens also host trace fossils, including the remains of a burrow, which are generally lacking in the body-fossil-bearing layers of the Konservat-Lagerstätte interval. These traces appear to have been made by small organisms and are similar to traces associated with the discs of Pararotadiscus guizhouensis (Zhao and Zhu, 1994) from the Kaili Biota. The available taphonomic, paleoenvironmental, and ichnological evidence indicates that the EBS eldonioids are most likely vagrants that were transported or settled into the ‘preservational trap’ and subsequently exposed on the substrate for a brief period before burial, thereby allowing organisms to exploit their carcasses for nutrients or other purposes.
Mars Rover Techniques and Lower/Middle Cambrian Microbialites from South Australia: Construction, Biofacies, and Biogeochemistry
Publisher: Mary Ann Liebert Inc
Date: 05-2020
The early Cambrian tommotiidKulparina rostratafrom South Australia
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 11-2015
DOI: 10.1017/JPA.2016.5
Abstract: The early Cambrian (Terreneuvian, Stage 2) tommotiid Kulparina rostrata Conway Morris and Bengtson in Bengtson et al., 1990 is revised. The pyramidal sclerites of K. rostrata are shown to be bilaterally symmetrical and homologues of the symmetrical S1 sclerites of Paterimitra pyramidalis Laurie, 1986. The scleritome of K. rostrata is also shown to include flattened asymmetrical sclerites that were originally described under the name Eccentrotheca guano Bengtson in Bengtson et al., 1990 and which correspond to the L-sclerites of Paterimitra . A modified tubular scleritome and a sessile filter-feeding mode of life is envisaged for Kulparina rostrata .
Facies, phosphate, and fossil preservation potential across a Lower Cambrian carbonate shelf, Arrowie Basin, South Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2019
Lower Cambrian helcionelloid macromolluscs from South Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2016
Related Organisations
Macquarie University Faculty Of Science And Engineering
Location: Australia
Related Funding Activities
Documenting Early Cambrian Skeleton-bearing Lophotrochozoan Animals From Australia And Antarctica
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End Date: 2013
Funder: Wenner-Gren Foundation
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Start Date: 2012
End Date: 12-2015
Amount: $300,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityDiscovery Projects - Grant ID: DP210100462
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End Date: 09-2025
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View Funded ActivityLinkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE180100160
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