We describe new material of three-dimensionally phosphatized small shelly fossils Acanthocassis and Xinlispina gen.nov.from the Fortunian Stage（early Cambrian） of southern Shaanxi and northern Sichuan Provinces.The ...We describe new material of three-dimensionally phosphatized small shelly fossils Acanthocassis and Xinlispina gen.nov.from the Fortunian Stage（early Cambrian） of southern Shaanxi and northern Sichuan Provinces.The new materials allow description of the delicate morphology of these skeletons, and also their skeletogenesis.Acanthocassis and Xinlispina have comparable morphological features： a main branch and radially arranged sub-branches.They differ from each other in many details, e.g., the presence of a single central branch only in Xinlispina, and the presence of small nodes only in Acanthocassis.Acanthocassis cannot be a naked anthopolyp or hydropolyp because of the more-or-less stiffened cuticle and the absence of a mouth.Acanthocassisand Xinlispina differ from coeval sponge spicules and chancelloriid sclerites and rosettes of crossed pedicellariae of echinoderms, and might be cuticular ornaments of animals of unclear affinities.They occur in the first small shelly fossil assemblage zone, and could be adopted as auxiliary fossils for biostratigraphic correlation in southern China.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41072012 and 41102003)the State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (113115 and 20132107)+2 种基金the Key Project of Central University Fund (CHD2012ZD017)College Students’ Innovative Entrepreneurial Training Program (201410710144 and 201410710105)The Ninth "Challenge Cup" Competition of College Students’ Extracurricular Academic and Technological Achievements, Chang’an University
文摘We describe new material of three-dimensionally phosphatized small shelly fossils Acanthocassis and Xinlispina gen.nov.from the Fortunian Stage（early Cambrian） of southern Shaanxi and northern Sichuan Provinces.The new materials allow description of the delicate morphology of these skeletons, and also their skeletogenesis.Acanthocassis and Xinlispina have comparable morphological features： a main branch and radially arranged sub-branches.They differ from each other in many details, e.g., the presence of a single central branch only in Xinlispina, and the presence of small nodes only in Acanthocassis.Acanthocassis cannot be a naked anthopolyp or hydropolyp because of the more-or-less stiffened cuticle and the absence of a mouth.Acanthocassisand Xinlispina differ from coeval sponge spicules and chancelloriid sclerites and rosettes of crossed pedicellariae of echinoderms, and might be cuticular ornaments of animals of unclear affinities.They occur in the first small shelly fossil assemblage zone, and could be adopted as auxiliary fossils for biostratigraphic correlation in southern China.
