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Journal of Paleontology

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A NEW ?LAMELLIPEDIAN ARTHROPOD FROM THE EARLY CAMBRIAN SIRIUS PASSET FAUNA OF NORTH GREENLAND

¹ Department of Earth Sciences, Palaeobiology, Uppsala University, Villavägen 16, SE-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden <linda.lagebro@spray.se>, <john.peel@pal.uu.se>
² present address: Museum of Evolution, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 16, SE-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden <martin.stein@evolmuseum.uu.se>

Key Words: Lamellipedia • Sirius Passet • Greenland • Early Cambrian

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

	INTRODUCTION

 
The non-mineralized arthropod described herein is derived from the Sirius Passet fossil conservation deposit of North Greenland (82°47.6'N, 42°13.7'W), the oldest locality with exceptional preservation of soft tissues known from the Cambrian of Laurentia (Cambrian Series 2, Stage 3; Nevadella Zone). As such, it is broadly contemporaneous with the Chengjiang fauna of China (Hou et al., 2004) and some 10 million years older than the Burgess Shale fauna of British Columbia. The Sirius Passet fauna was first documented by Conway Morris et al. (1987) and its geological setting is discussed by Babcock and Peel (2007). In addition to the nevadiid trilobite Buenellus higginsi Blaker, 1988, the fauna is dominated by non-mineralized arthropods (Budd, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999; Williams et al., 1996; Taylor, 2002). Other finds include sponges (Rigby, 1986), a lobopod (Budd and Peel, 1998), the earliest annelids (Conway Morris and Peel, 2008) and articulated halkieriids (Conway Morris and Peel, 1990, 1995), but most of the assemblage awaits description.

Siriocaris trollae gen. et sp. nov. has long, multiarticulate antennae, like lamellipedian arthropods, and the dorsal morphology shows particular similarities with trilobites and helmetiids. Some 14 specimens have been studied. Due to their relatively large size, most are broken, but there is no evidence of disarticulation. Six specimens preserve only tergites, head shield, and tail, mostly embedded in dorsoventral orientation, with the tergites lying flat on the bedding plane. Five specimens preserving limbs are embedded in oblique orientation, with the limbs of one series extending from under the tergites and those of the other, except the most anterior, either folded under the tergites or not preserved.

In the description below, terminology follows Stein et al. (2008) for ventral morphology, except that . . . [Full Text of this Article]