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''Cambrorhytium'' is an enigmatic fossil genus known from the Latham Shale (California), and the Chengjiang (China) and Burgess Shale (Canadian rockies)
lagerstätte A Lagerstätte (, from ''Lager'' 'storage, lair' '' Stätte'' 'place'; plural ''Lagerstätten'') is a sedimentary deposit that exhibits extraordinary fossils with exceptional preservation—sometimes including preserved soft tissues. These for ...
. 350 specimens of ''Cambrorhytium'' are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed, where they comprise 0.7% of the community. The fossil is conical, with iterated linear markings on its walls, parallel to its base. Its wall is thin, and it lacks the keel that is distinctive of
hyolith Hyoliths are animals with small conical surface, conical animal shell, shells, known as fossils from the Palaeozoic era. They are at least considered as lophotrochozoan, and possibly being lophophorates, a group which includes the brachiopods, w ...
s. It has been interpreted as a
cnidarian Cnidaria () is a phylum under kingdom Animalia containing over 11,000 species of aquatic animals found both in freshwater and marine environments, predominantly the latter. Their distinguishing feature is cnidocytes, specialized cells that th ...
polyp, with the interpretation suggesting that the animal lived in the tube and extended tentacles (of which no trace has been found) from the flat aperture. This is supported by similarities to Palaeoconotuba. The other possible, but probably unlikely, affinity is with the hyolith molluscs. Its name is from the Latin ''rhytium'', drinking horn. ''C. elongatum'' has been described to contain an alimentary canal in a single Chinese specimen. ''C. major'' was originally described as a member of the
hyolith Hyoliths are animals with small conical surface, conical animal shell, shells, known as fossils from the Palaeozoic era. They are at least considered as lophotrochozoan, and possibly being lophophorates, a group which includes the brachiopods, w ...
genus '' Orthotheca''. ''C. fragilis'' was originally included by
Charles D. Walcott Charles Doolittle Walcott (March 31, 1850February 9, 1927) was an American paleontologist, administrator of the Smithsonian Institution from 1907 to 1927, and director of the United States Geological Survey.Wonderful Life (book) by Stephen Jay Go ...
in the genus ''
Selkirkia ''Selkirkia'' is a genus of predatory, tubicolous priapulid worms known from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale, Ogygopsis Shale and Puncoviscana Formation. 142 specimens of ''Selkirkia'' are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed, where they compr ...
'', – a taxonomy that was retained by later workers until finally questioned and redescribed as ''Cambrorhytium'' in the eighties. Its similarity with the lower cambrian species '' Torellelloides giganteum'' may indicate a close relationship.


See also

''Cambrorhytium'' has been compared to the fossil ''
Archotuba ''Archotuba'' is a genus of elongated conical tubes that were seemingly deposited by colonial organisms. Known from the Chengjiang, its biological affinity is uncertain; it somewhat resembles the tubes of the ' priapulid' ''Selkirkia'', but a cn ...
'' and ''
Sphenothallus ''Sphenothallus'' is a problematic extinct genus lately attributed to the conulariids. It was widespread in shallow marine environments during the Paleozoic. Occurrence ''Sphenothallus'' is represented in the Cambrian period in the Kaili biot ...
''


References


External links


"Cambrorhytium major"
Burgess Shale Fossil Gallery. Virtual Museum of Canada. 2011. (Burgess Shale species 31) Burgess Shale fossils Staurozoa Burgess Shale animals Prehistoric cnidarian genera Controversial taxa Fossil taxa described in 1908 Cambrian genus extinctions {{paleo-staurozoa-stub