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Wheeler Shale
The Wheeler Shale (named by Charles Walcott) is a Cambrian ( 507 Ma) fossil locality world-famous for prolific agnostid and ''Elrathia kingii'' trilobite remains (even though many areas are barren of fossils) and represents a Konzentrat-Lagerstätte. Varied soft bodied organisms are locally preserved, a fauna (including ''Naraoia'', ''Wiwaxia'' and ''Hallucigenia'') and preservation style ( carbonaceous film) normally associated with the more famous Burgess Shale. As such, the Wheeler Shale also represents a Konservat-Lagerstätten. Together with the Marjum Formation and lower Weeks Formation, the Wheeler Shale forms of limestone and shale exposed in one of the thickest, most fossiliferous and best exposed sequences of Middle Cambrian rocks in North America. At the type locality of Wheeler Amphitheater, House Range, Millard County, western Utah, the Wheeler Shale consists of a heterogeneous succession of highly calcareous shale, shaley limestone, mudstone and t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elrathia Kingii
''Elrathia'' is a genus of trilobite belonging to Ptychopariacea known from the mid-Cambrian of Laurentia (North America). ''E. kingii'' is one of the most common trilobite fossils in the USA locally found in extremely high concentrations within the Wheeler Formation in the U.S. state of Utah. ''E. kingii'' has been considered the most recognizable trilobite. Commercial quarries extract ''E. kingii'' in prolific numbers, with just one commercial collector estimating 1.5 million specimens extracted in a 20-year career. 1950 specimens of ''Elrathia'' are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed, where they comprise 3.7% of the community. Etymology Even though the generic name ''Elrathia'' was first published in the combination ''E. kingii'', a species from the House Range, Utah, the name, itself, is derived from Elrath, Cherokee County, Alabama. Description ''E. kingii'' is a medium-sized trilobite with a smooth sub-ovate carapace that is tapered towards the rear. Trilobite#Ter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Burgess Shale Type Preservation
The Burgess Shale of British Columbia is famous for its exceptional preservation of mid-Cambrian organisms. Around 69 other sites have been discovered of a similar age, with soft tissues preserved in a similar, though not identical, fashion. Additional sites with a similar form of preservation are known from the Ediacaran and Ordovician periods. These various shales are of great importance in the reconstruction of the ecosystems immediately after the Cambrian explosion. The taphonomic regime results in soft tissue being preserved, meaning that organisms without conventionally fossilized hard parts can be seen. This provides further insight into the organs of more familiar organisms such as the trilobites. The most famous localities preserving organisms in this fashion are the Canadian Burgess Shale, the Chinese Chengjiang fauna, and the more remote Sirius Passet in north Greenland. However, a number of other localities also exist. Distribution Burgess Shale-type biotas are foun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Morania
''Morania'' is a genus of cyanobacterium preserved as carbonaceous films in the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale. it is present throughout the shale; 2580 specimens of ''Morania'' are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed, where they comprise 4.90% of the community. It is filamentous, forms sheets, and resembles the modern cyanobacterium ''Nostoc''. It would have had a role in binding the sediment, and would have been a food source for such organisms as ''Odontogriphus'' and ''Wiwaxia ''Wiwaxia'' is a genus of soft-bodied animals that were covered in carbonaceous scales and spines that protected it from predators. ''Wiwaxia'' fossils—mainly isolated scales, but sometimes complete, articulated fossils—are known from early C ...''. References External links * {{Taxonbar, from=Q16985953 †Morania Prehistoric bacteria Burgess Shale fossils Wheeler Shale Cambrian genus extinctions ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Green Algae
The green algae (: green alga) are a group of chlorophyll-containing autotrophic eukaryotes consisting of the phylum Prasinodermophyta and its unnamed sister group that contains the Chlorophyta and Charophyta/ Streptophyta. The land plants ( Embryophytes) have emerged deep within the charophytes as a sister of the Zygnematophyceae. Since the realization that the Embryophytes emerged within the green algae, some authors are starting to include them. The completed clade that includes both green algae and embryophytes is monophyletic and is referred to as the clade Viridiplantae and as the kingdom Plantae. The green algae include unicellular and colonial flagellates, most with two flagella per cell, as well as various colonial, coccoid (spherical), and filamentous forms, and macroscopic, multicellular seaweeds. There are about 22,000 species of green algae, many of which live most of their lives as single cells, while other species form coenobia (colonies), long filaments ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cyanobacteria
Cyanobacteria ( ) are a group of autotrophic gram-negative bacteria that can obtain biological energy via oxygenic photosynthesis. The name "cyanobacteria" () refers to their bluish green (cyan) color, which forms the basis of cyanobacteria's informal common name, blue-green algae. Cyanobacteria are probably the most numerous taxon to have ever existed on Earth and the first organisms known to have produced oxygen, having appeared in the middle Archean eon and apparently originated in a freshwater or terrestrial environment. Their photopigments can absorb the red- and blue-spectrum frequencies of sunlight (thus reflecting a greenish color) to split water molecules into hydrogen ions and oxygen. The hydrogen ions are used to react with carbon dioxide to produce complex organic compounds such as carbohydrates (a process known as carbon fixation), and the oxygen is released as a byproduct. By continuously producing and releasing oxygen over billions of years, cyanobacte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marpolia
''Marpolia'' has been interpreted as a cyanobacterium, but also resembles the modern cladophoran green algae. It is known from the Middle Cambrian Burgess shale The Burgess Shale is a fossil-bearing deposit exposed in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, Canada. It is famous for the exceptional preservation of the soft parts of its fossils. At old (middle Cambrian), it is one of the earliest fos ... and Early Cambrian deposits from the Czech Republic. It comprises a dense mass of entangled, twisted filaments. It may have been free-floating or grown on other objects, although there is no evidence of attachment structures. 40 specimens of ''Marpolia'' are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed, where they comprise 0.08% of the community. References External links * Burgess Shale fossils Wheeler Shale Prehistoric bacteria Cambrian genus extinctions {{cyanobacteria-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stanleycaris Sp
''Stanleycaris'' ("Stanley's shrimp") is an Extinction, extinct genus of hurdiid radiodont from the Cambrian (Stage 3 to Miaolingian). The type species is ''Stanleycaris hirpex''. ''Stanleycaris'' was described from the Stephen Formation near the Stanley Glacier and Burgess Shale locality of Canada, as well as Wheeler Shale, Wheeler Formation of United States. A second species, ''S. qingjiangensis'' is known from the Qingjiang biota of China. The genus was characterized by the Rake (tool), rake-like Radiodonta#Frontal appendage, frontal appendages with robust inner spines. History of discovery ''Stanleycaris'' was originally described only from frontal appendages and oral cone. Its generic name means "Crab of Stanley Glacier"; ''hirpex'', L. "large rake", reflects the Rake (tool), rake-like nature of its spiny frontal appendages. However, in 2022, 268 specimens of ''Stanleycaris'', many of which were complete, were studied, making ''Stanleycaris'' a well documented radiodont. ''Sta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trilobite Zone
Trilobites are used as index fossils to subdivide the Cambrian period. Assemblages of trilobites define trilobite zones. The '' Olenellus''-zone has traditionally marked the top of the Lower Cambrian, and is followed by the '' Eokochaspis'' zone. The last two zones of the Middle Cambrian are the '' Bathyuriscus– Elrathina''-zone (contemporaneous with the Burgess Shale The Burgess Shale is a fossil-bearing deposit exposed in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, Canada. It is famous for the exceptional preservation of the soft parts of its fossils. At old (middle Cambrian), it is one of the earliest fos ...) and the subsequent '' Bolaspidella''-zone (starting at the base of the Drumian stage). These are overlain by the lowermost Upper Cambrian '' Cedaria''-zone. Alternative zoning names place the Burgess Shale in the ''Peronopsis bonnerensis''-zone, which is underlain by the '' Oryctocephalus indicus''-zone (e.g. Spence Shale) and overlain (perhaps not directly) b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ptychagnostus
''Ptychagnostus'' is a genus of trilobites in the order Agnostida that lived during the Cambrian The Cambrian ( ) is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 51.95 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran period 538.8 Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Ordov ... period. Their remains are rarely found in empty tubes of the polychaete worm '' Selkirkia''. The genus probably ranged throughout the water column. It has two glabellar lobes, and three pygidial lobes. Type species ''Agnostus punctuosus'' Angelin, 1851 from the ''Ptychagnostus punctuosus'' zone of the Alum Shale ( Drumian), Sweden (by original designation). Official ruling on the conservation of accepted usage of ''A. punctuosus'' as the type species was given by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, 1993. Remarks ''Ptychagnostus affinis'' (Brøgger 1878) was once considered a subspecies of ''Ptychagnostus punctuosu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emeraldella Brocki
''Emeraldella'' is a genus of arthropod known from the Middle Cambrian of North America. The type species ''E. brocki'' was described in 1912 from the Burgess Shale. 21 specimens of ''Emeraldella'' are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed, where they comprise < 0.1% of the community. A re-study on the species was done in 2012. A second species ''E. brutoni'' is known from the , which was described in 2011. An additional specimen of ''E. brutoni'' was described in 2019, which revealed more of the anatomy. It has been placed as a basal member of the clade within |
