Watsonella
   HOME
*





Watsonella
''Watsonella'' is a genus of 'mollusc' known from early (Terreneuvian) Cambrian strata. The genus is closely related to '' Anabarella'', with which it bears many morphological similarities, including a laminar internal shell microstructure said to connect it with the early bivalves ''Fordilla'' and ''Pojetaia''. Biostratigraphic significance Watsonella has been proposed as an index fossil of the Cambrian, defining a W. crosbyi zone. Notwithstanding the weakness of a first appearance datum as a definition for the base of a period, the species has been proposed as a marker for the base of the presently unratified second stage of the Terreneuvian (i.e. Cambrian Stage 2). However, the species has now been found late in the FOrtunian, drawing back its first occurrence. But that said its occurrence in Australia seems to begin rather near the base of Stage 2. Affinity Widely thought to be a mollusc, the connection between the two 'valves' of Watsonella recalls the configuration ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Pojetaia
''Pojetaia'' is an extinct genus of early bivalves, one of two genera in the extinct family Fordillidae. The genus is known solely from Early to Middle Cambrian fossils found in North America, Greenland, Europe, North Africa, Asia, and Australia.The Paleobiology Database ''Pojetaia'' entry
accessed 4 January 2012
The genus currently contains two accepted species, ''Pojetaia runnegari'', the type species, and ''Pojetaia sarhroensis'', though up to seven species have been proposed. The genera ''Buluniella'', ''Jellia'', and ''Oryzoconcha'' are all considered synonyms of ''Pojetaia''.


Description

''Pojetaia'' are small bivalves with

Anabarella
''Anabarella'' is a species of bilaterally-flattened monoplacophoran mollusc, with a morphological similarity to the rostroconchs. Its shell preserves evidence of three mineralogical textures on its outer surface: it is polygonal near the crest of the shell, subsequently changing to both spiny and stepwise. Its internal microstructure is calcitic and semi-nacreous. Its name reflects its provenance from Anabar, Siberia. It has been interpreted as ancestral to the rostroconchs, and has been aligned to the Helcionellidae. The genus is closely related to ''Watsonella'', with which it bears many morphological similarities, including a laminar internal shell microstructure said to connect it with the early bivalves ''Fordilla'' and ''Pojetaia ''Pojetaia'' is an extinct genus of early bivalves, one of two genera in the extinct family Fordillidae. The genus is known solely from Early to Middle Cambrian fossils found in North America, Greenland, Europe, North Africa, Asia, and Aus ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Bivalves
Bivalvia (), in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of marine and freshwater molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hinged parts. As a group, bivalves have no head and they lack some usual molluscan organs, like the radula and the odontophore. They include the clams, oysters, cockles, mussels, scallops, and numerous other families that live in saltwater, as well as a number of families that live in freshwater. The majority are filter feeders. The gills have evolved into ctenidia, specialised organs for feeding and breathing. Most bivalves bury themselves in sediment, where they are relatively safe from predation. Others lie on the sea floor or attach themselves to rocks or other hard surfaces. Some bivalves, such as the scallops and file shells, can swim. The shipworms bore into wood, clay, or stone and live inside these substances. The shell of a bivalve is composed of calc ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Fordilla
''Fordilla'' is an extinct genus of early bivalves, one of two genera in the extinct family Fordillidae. The genus is known solely from Early Cambrian fossils found in North America, Greenland, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.The Paleobiology Database ''Fordilla'' entry
accessed 4 January 2012
The genus currently contains three described species, ''Fordilla germanica'', ''Fordilla sibirica'', and the type species ''Fordilla troyensis''.


Description

''Fordilla'' are small bivalves with that are equal in size and suboval in shape. In size ''Fordilla'' specime ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Rostroconch
The Rostroconchia is a class of extinct molluscs dating from the early Cambrian to the Late Permian. They were initially thought to be bivalves, but were later given their own class. They have a single shell in their larval stage, and the adult typically has a single, pseudo-bivalved shell enclosing the mantle and muscular foot. The anterior part of the shell probably pointed downward and had a gap from which the foot could probably emerge. Rostroconchs probably lived a sedentary semi-infaunal lifestyle. There were probably more than 1,000 species of members of this class. Approximately 3 dozen genera and an even greater number of species have been described. Generally, rostroconchs are small, less than two centimeters in length, but larger forms, found in United States Devonian limestones, can grow to a length of 15 cm. Morphology and lifestyle Externally, rostroconchs look much like bivalves and rostroconchs probably had an extendable muscular foot, indicated by a prom ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Cambrian Fossil Record
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]  


picture info

Extinct Molluscs
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the Endling, last individual of the species, although the Functional extinction, capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point. Because a species' potential Range (biology), range may be very large, determining this moment is difficult, and is usually done retrospectively. This difficulty leads to phenomena such as Lazarus taxon, Lazarus taxa, where a species presumed extinct abruptly "reappears" (typically in the Fossil, fossil record) after a period of apparent absence. More than 99% of all species that ever Life, lived on Earth, amounting to over five billion species, are estimated to have died out. It is estimated that there are currently around 8.7 million species of eukaryote globally, and possibly many times more if microorganisms, like bacteria, are included. Notable extinct a ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Paleozoic Life Of Newfoundland And Labrador
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 even ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]