Micrometric detail in palaeoscolecid worms from Late Ordovician sandstones of the Tafilalt Konservat-Lagerstätte, Morocco
The late Ordovician Tafilalt Biota of Morocco is a recently discovered Konservat-Lagerstätte that provides abundant paropsonemid eldonioids – resembling those from the Cambrian Burgess Shale and Chengjiang biotas, or other paropsonemid occurrences from the Ordovician to Silurian of the US and Austra...
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/98917 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2014.04.006 |
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ftcsic:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/98917 2024-02-11T10:08:42+01:00 Micrometric detail in palaeoscolecid worms from Late Ordovician sandstones of the Tafilalt Konservat-Lagerstätte, Morocco Gutiérrez-Marco, J. C. García-Bellido, Diego 2014-05-02 http://hdl.handle.net/10261/98917 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2014.04.006 en eng Elsevier Postprint http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2014.04.006 Sí Gondwana research, 28(2): 875–881 (2015) 1342-937X http://hdl.handle.net/10261/98917 doi:10.1016/j.gr.2014.04.006 open Palaeoscolecida Soft-bodied preservation Sandbian First Bani Group North Africa South Gondwana artículo http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501 2014 ftcsic https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2014.04.006 2024-01-16T09:59:43Z The late Ordovician Tafilalt Biota of Morocco is a recently discovered Konservat-Lagerstätte that provides abundant paropsonemid eldonioids – resembling those from the Cambrian Burgess Shale and Chengjiang biotas, or other paropsonemid occurrences from the Ordovician to Silurian of the US and Australia – large discoidal ?holdfasts, non-biomineralised cheloniellid arthropods, rare vermiform fossils and articulated skeletons of echinoderms and trilobites. Exceptional preservation of soft-bodied organisms occurs in medium- to coarse-grained sandstones, in a style reminiscent of the soft-bodied Ediacaran fossils of the White Sea Assemblage. Here, we describe the first articulated scleritomes of a large palaeoscolecid worm from Africa. In addition to the mineralised sclerites, the specimens also exhibit extensive soft-tissue preservation down to micron-scale, including fine detail of annuli with their plate, platelet and microplate arrangement on a reticulate cuticle. Compression fossils of the new species Gamascolex vanroyi are represented by external moulds with remains of phosphatised cuticular structure, secondarily weathered into strontian crandallite. Partial foregut fossilisation is seen in one specimen, and phosphatised digestive structures are also reported in three co-occurring trilobite genera at the Bou Nemrou locality. From a palaeogeographic point of view, these North African palaeoscolecids represent the highest palaeolatitudinal occurrence of this Palaeozoic group in Gondwana, being described for the first time in cold-water areas adjacent to the Late Ordovician South Pole. It also provides a palaeobiogeographic link to the original distribution of the genus Gamascolex in a central European Peri-Gondwanan terrane. Peer reviewed Article in Journal/Newspaper South pole White Sea Digital.CSIC (Spanish National Research Council) Bani ENVELOPE(-21.506,-21.506,64.898,64.898) Burgess ENVELOPE(76.128,76.128,-69.415,-69.415) South Pole White Sea Gondwana Research 28 2 875 881 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Digital.CSIC (Spanish National Research Council) |
op_collection_id |
ftcsic |
language |
English |
topic |
Palaeoscolecida Soft-bodied preservation Sandbian First Bani Group North Africa South Gondwana |
spellingShingle |
Palaeoscolecida Soft-bodied preservation Sandbian First Bani Group North Africa South Gondwana Gutiérrez-Marco, J. C. García-Bellido, Diego Micrometric detail in palaeoscolecid worms from Late Ordovician sandstones of the Tafilalt Konservat-Lagerstätte, Morocco |
topic_facet |
Palaeoscolecida Soft-bodied preservation Sandbian First Bani Group North Africa South Gondwana |
description |
The late Ordovician Tafilalt Biota of Morocco is a recently discovered Konservat-Lagerstätte that provides abundant paropsonemid eldonioids – resembling those from the Cambrian Burgess Shale and Chengjiang biotas, or other paropsonemid occurrences from the Ordovician to Silurian of the US and Australia – large discoidal ?holdfasts, non-biomineralised cheloniellid arthropods, rare vermiform fossils and articulated skeletons of echinoderms and trilobites. Exceptional preservation of soft-bodied organisms occurs in medium- to coarse-grained sandstones, in a style reminiscent of the soft-bodied Ediacaran fossils of the White Sea Assemblage. Here, we describe the first articulated scleritomes of a large palaeoscolecid worm from Africa. In addition to the mineralised sclerites, the specimens also exhibit extensive soft-tissue preservation down to micron-scale, including fine detail of annuli with their plate, platelet and microplate arrangement on a reticulate cuticle. Compression fossils of the new species Gamascolex vanroyi are represented by external moulds with remains of phosphatised cuticular structure, secondarily weathered into strontian crandallite. Partial foregut fossilisation is seen in one specimen, and phosphatised digestive structures are also reported in three co-occurring trilobite genera at the Bou Nemrou locality. From a palaeogeographic point of view, these North African palaeoscolecids represent the highest palaeolatitudinal occurrence of this Palaeozoic group in Gondwana, being described for the first time in cold-water areas adjacent to the Late Ordovician South Pole. It also provides a palaeobiogeographic link to the original distribution of the genus Gamascolex in a central European Peri-Gondwanan terrane. Peer reviewed |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Gutiérrez-Marco, J. C. García-Bellido, Diego |
author_facet |
Gutiérrez-Marco, J. C. García-Bellido, Diego |
author_sort |
Gutiérrez-Marco, J. C. |
title |
Micrometric detail in palaeoscolecid worms from Late Ordovician sandstones of the Tafilalt Konservat-Lagerstätte, Morocco |
title_short |
Micrometric detail in palaeoscolecid worms from Late Ordovician sandstones of the Tafilalt Konservat-Lagerstätte, Morocco |
title_full |
Micrometric detail in palaeoscolecid worms from Late Ordovician sandstones of the Tafilalt Konservat-Lagerstätte, Morocco |
title_fullStr |
Micrometric detail in palaeoscolecid worms from Late Ordovician sandstones of the Tafilalt Konservat-Lagerstätte, Morocco |
title_full_unstemmed |
Micrometric detail in palaeoscolecid worms from Late Ordovician sandstones of the Tafilalt Konservat-Lagerstätte, Morocco |
title_sort |
micrometric detail in palaeoscolecid worms from late ordovician sandstones of the tafilalt konservat-lagerstätte, morocco |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10261/98917 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2014.04.006 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-21.506,-21.506,64.898,64.898) ENVELOPE(76.128,76.128,-69.415,-69.415) |
geographic |
Bani Burgess South Pole White Sea |
geographic_facet |
Bani Burgess South Pole White Sea |
genre |
South pole White Sea |
genre_facet |
South pole White Sea |
op_relation |
Postprint http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2014.04.006 Sí Gondwana research, 28(2): 875–881 (2015) 1342-937X http://hdl.handle.net/10261/98917 doi:10.1016/j.gr.2014.04.006 |
op_rights |
open |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2014.04.006 |
container_title |
Gondwana Research |
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28 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
875 |
op_container_end_page |
881 |
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1790608247202250752 |