Biogeographic and biological comparisons between the Emu Bay Shale (Kangaroo Island, South Australia) and other Cambrian Burgess Shale-type biotas

• Main Author: Holmes, James Dougal
• Other Authors: Garcia-Bellido, Diego, Lee, Michael Soon Yoong, Bradshaw, Corey, School of Biological Sciences
• Format: Thesis
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: palaeontology; Cambrian; Trilobite; biogeography; BST; Burgess Shale; Research by Publication; Burgess; Canada; Greenland; Kangaroo Island; Sirius
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2440/107383; https://doi.org/10.4225/55/59a74abcfe6a6

Konservat-Lagerstätten, or fossil deposits exhibiting exceptional preservation of non-biomineralised material, are particularly prevalent in the Cambrian, and offer us great insight into the evolution and ecology of early animals and communities. The Emu Bay Shale (EBS) from the north coast of Kangaroo Island, South Australia, houses an early Cambrian (Series 3 – c. 514 Ma) Lagerstätte that contains over 50 species, including sponges, brachiopods, molluscs, annelids, priapulids, lobopodians, arthropods, vetulicolians, and several problematic taxa, making it the most diverse Burgess Shale-type (BST) biota in the southern hemisphere. While considerable work in describing taxa from the EBS Lagerstätte has been completed, less has been undertaken that focuses on the relationships between this and other Cambrian BST biotas. This project aims to examine some of the links between the EBS Lagerstätte and similar deposits from around the world, including the Burgess Shale (Canada), Chengjiang (China) and Sirius Passet (Greenland) biotas, amongst others. To this end, the project has two major parts. The first section aims to examine the biogeographic relationships between major Cambrian BST biotas from a global perspective. A substantial database of generic occurrence was constructed from the published literature, and analysed using various multivariate techniques in order to examine the relationships between these exceptionally preserved assemblages. Results suggest that both geographic distance and differences in age have an effect on the composition of BST biotas, and that assemblage similarity appears to increase through the Cambrian. The EBS biota is most closely related to other Gondwanan sites in South China, most likely reflecting a regional relationship. The second section involves a more focused description and interpretation of a single element of the EBS biota, namely an examination of the moulting habits of two common trilobite species from the Emu Bay Shale, Estaingia bilobata Pocock, 1964 and Redlichia ...