Exceptionally Preserved Jellyfishes from the Middle Cambrian

Autor(es)

Cartwright, Paulyn ^[1] ; Halgedahl, Susan L. ^[2] ; Hendricks, Jonathan R. ^{[3, 4]} ; Jarrard, Richard D. ^[2] ; Marques, Antonio C. ^[5] ; Collins, Allen G. ^[6] ; Lieberman, Bruce S. ^{[3, 4]}

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Univ Kansas, Dept Ecol & Evolutionary Biol, Lawrence, KS 66045 - USA

^[2] Univ Utah, Dept Geol & Geophys, Salt Lake City, UT 84112 - USA

^[3] Univ Kansas, Dept Geol, Nat Hist Museum, Lawrence, KS 66045 - USA

^[4] Univ Kansas, Div Invertebrate Paleontol, Nat Hist Museum, Lawrence, KS 66045 - USA

^[5] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Biociencias, Dept Zool, Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[6] Fisheries Serv, Natl Systemat Lab, NOAA, Natl Museum Nat Hist, Smithsonian Inst, Washington, DC - USA

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: PLoS One; v. 2, n. 10, p. 1-7, 2007.
• Área do conhecimento: Ciências Biológicas - Zoologia
• Citações Web of Science: 64
• Assunto(s): Invertebrados marinhos Coelenterata Medusas Medusae

Resumo

Cnidarians represent an early diverging animal group and thus insight into their origin and diversification is key to understanding metazoan evolution. Further, cnidarian jellyfish comprise an important component of modern marine planktonic ecosystems. Here we report on exceptionally preserved cnidarian jellyfish fossils from the Middle Cambrian (~505 million years old) Marjum Formation of Utah. These are the first described Cambrian jellyfish fossils to display exquisite preservation of soft part anatomy including detailed features of structures interpreted as trailing tentacles and subumbrellar and exumbrellar surfaces. If the interpretation of these preserved characters is correct, their presence is diagnostic of modern jellyfish taxa. These new discoveries may provide insight into the scope of cnidarian diversity shortly after the Cambrian radiation, and would reinforce the notion that important taxonomic components of the modern planktonic realm were in place by the Cambrian period. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 04/09961-4 - Biodiversidade, evolução, endemismo e conservação dos Medusozoa do Atlântico Sul-Ocidental
• Beneficiário: Antonio Carlos Marques
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Temático