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Knightoconus
''Knightoconus antarcticus'' is an extinct species of fossil monoplacophoran from the Cambrian Minaret Formation of Antarctica. It is thought to represent an ancestor to the cephalopods. It had a chambered conical shell, but lacked a siphuncle. Taxonomic debate The absence of a siphuncle in ''K. antarcticus'' has been taken as evidence against cephalopod ancestry, as factors that would allow a siphuncle to penetrate preexisting septal chambers remain unknown. The prevailing argument suggests that a strand of tissue remained attached to the previous septum as the mollusc moved forwards and deposited its next septum, stopping that new septum from closing completely and becoming mineralised itself. Ten or more septa are found in mature individuals, occupying around a third of the shell – septa form very early and have been found in specimens as small as 2 mm in length. Unlike monoplacophoran fossils, there is no evidence of muscle scarring in ''Knightoconus'' fossils ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Evolutionary History Of Cephalopods
The cephalopods have a long geological history, with the first nautiloids found in late Cambrian strata, and purported stem-group representatives present in the earliest Cambrian lagerstätten. The class developed during the middle Cambrian, and underwent pulses of diversification during the Ordovician period to become diverse and dominant in the Paleozoic and Mesozoic seas. Small shelly fossils such as '' Tommotia'' were once interpreted as early cephalopods, but today these tiny fossils are recognized as sclerites of larger animals, and the earliest accepted cephalopods date to the Middle Cambrian Period. During the Cambrian, cephalopods are most common in shallow near-shore environments, but they have been found in deeper waters too. Cephalopods were thought to have "undoubtedly" arisen from within the tryblidiid monoplacophoran clade. However genetic studies suggest that they are more basal, forming a sister group to the Scaphopoda but otherwise basal to all other major moll ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minaret Formation
The Minaret Formation is a Late Cambrian limestone formation of the Heritage Group of Antarctica. The age of the formation is established to be Guzhangian to Cambrian Stage 10 (or Merioneth to Dresbachian in the regional stratigraphy), dated at ranging from 500 to 488 Ma.Minaret Formation at Fossilworks.org The formation has provided the first known Late Cambrian archaeocyathid, and '' Knightoconus antarcticus'', an ancestor to the cephalopods. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monoplacophora
Monoplacophora , meaning "bearing one plate", is a polyphyletic superclass of molluscs with a cap-like shell inhabiting deep sea environments . Extant representatives were not recognized as such until 1952; previously they were known only from the fossil record, and were thought to have become extinct 375 million years ago. Although the shell of many monoplacophorans is limpet-like in shape, they are not gastropods, nor do they have any close relation to gastropods. Definition Discussion about monoplacophorans is made difficult by the slippery definition of the taxon; some authors take it to refer to all non-gastropod mollusks with a single shell, or all single-shelled mollusks with serially repeated units; whereas other workers restrict the definition to cap-shaped forms, excluding spiral and other shapes of shell. The inclusion of the gastropod-like Bellerophontoidea within the group is also contentious. One attempt to resolve this confusion was to separate out the predom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cephalopod
A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan class Cephalopoda (Greek plural , ; "head-feet") such as a squid, octopus, cuttlefish, or nautilus. These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral body symmetry, a prominent head, and a set of arms or tentacles (muscular hydrostats) modified from the primitive molluscan foot. Fishers sometimes call cephalopods "inkfish", referring to their common ability to squirt ink. The study of cephalopods is a branch of malacology known as teuthology. Cephalopods became dominant during the Ordovician period, represented by primitive nautiloids. The class now contains two, only distantly related, extant subclasses: Coleoidea, which includes octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish; and Nautiloidea, represented by ''Nautilus'' and ''Allonautilus''. In the Coleoidea, the molluscan shell has been internalized or is absent, whereas in the Nautiloidea, the external shell remains. About 800 living species of cephalopods have been ident ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Franconian (stage)
The Franconian is the middle stage of the Upper or Late Cambrian in North America, equivalent to the Chinese Changshanian with a span of nearly 4.5 million years, from about 497 to 492.5 Ma. The name comes from the Franconia Formation, about 100 feet (30 m) of sandstone and green shale exposed near the town of Franconia in eastern Minnesota, north of St Paul. The Franconian is preceded by the Dresbachian and followed by the Trempealeauan The Trempealeauan is the upper or latest stage of the Upper or Late Cambrian in North America, spanning about 4 million years from about 492.5 to 488.3 m.y.a., equivalent to the Fengshanian of China. The name comes from the Trempealeau Formation, ..., respectively the lower and upper stages of the North American Upper Cambrian or Croixan Series. References * Chen Jun-yuan & Teichert C, 1983; Cambrian Cephalopods, Geology Vol 11, pp647–650, Nov 1983 * Flower R.H.1964, The Nautiloid Order Ellesmerocerida (Cephalopoda) Menoir 12, New Mexic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paleozoic Antarctica
The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838 by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ''zōḗ'' (), "life", meaning "ancient life" ). It is the longest of the Phanerozoic eras, lasting from , and is subdivided into six geologic periods (from oldest to youngest): # Cambrian # Ordovician # Silurian # Devonian # Carboniferous # Permian The Paleozoic comes after the Neoproterozoic Era of the Proterozoic Eon and is followed by the Mesozoic Era. The Paleozoic was a time of dramatic geological, climatic, and evolutionary change. The Cambrian witnessed the most rapid and widespread diversification of life in Earth's history, known as the Cambrian explosion, in which most modern phyla first appeared. Arthropods, molluscs, fish, amphibians, reptiles, and synapsids all evolved during the Paleozoic. Life began in the ocean but event ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cambrian Molluscs
The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million years ago (mya) to the beginning of the Ordovician Period mya. Its subdivisions, and its base, are somewhat in flux. The period was established as "Cambrian series" by Adam Sedgwick, who named it after Cambria, the Latin name for 'Cymru' (Wales), where Britain's Cambrian rocks are best exposed. Sedgwick identified the layer as part of his task, along with Roderick Murchison, to subdivide the large "Transition Series", although the two geologists disagreed for a while on the appropriate categorization. The Cambrian is unique in its unusually high proportion of sedimentary deposits, sites of exceptional preservation where "soft" parts of organisms are preserved as well as their more resistant shells. As a result, our understanding of the Cambrian biolo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prehistoric Monoplacophorans
Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of symbols, marks, and images appears very early among humans, but the earliest known writing systems appeared 5000 years ago. It took thousands of years for writing systems to be widely adopted, with writing spreading to almost all cultures by the 19th century. The end of prehistory therefore came at very different times in different places, and the term is less often used in discussing societies where prehistory ended relatively recently. In the early Bronze Age, Sumer in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley Civilisation, and ancient Egypt were the first civilizations to develop their own scripts and to keep historical records, with their neighbors following. Most other civilizations reached the end of prehistory during the following Iron Age. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plectronoceras
''Plectronoceras'' is the earliest known shelled cephalopod, dating to the Late Cambrian.''Plectronoceras'' at .org None of the fossils are complete, and none show the apex or aperture of the shell. Approximately half of its shell was filled with septa; 7 were recorded in a shell. Its shell contains transverse separated by about half a millimetre, with a |
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