早寒武世疑源类的古生物地理学意义

根据早寒武世疑源类在全球的古地理分布，并参考古地磁和动物化石等方面的资料，进行了早寒武世疑源类的古地理分区。结果表明：早寒武世在全球范围内可分为2个疑源类古地理大区，即波罗的海－北美－亚、澳大区和地中海大区；我国西南地区早寒武区筇竹寺期，可根据疑源类分为两个生态区，即扬子区和江南区。这一研究结果为今后各区生态结构分析，提供了重要基础资料。     

Phosphatized embryo fossils from the Cambrian explosion

The earliest Cambrian (Meishucunian) phosphatized metazoanOlivooides from the Yangtze platform is represented by dierent developmental stages: from blastula through possible gastrula to tissue differentiation and finally to the hatched animals. The fossilization of embryos opens a new field in palaeontologypalaeoembryology. Embryological studies will be of importance for the understanding of ontogeny and phylogeny of metazoans from the Cambrian explosion.     

寒武纪化石胚胎Markuelia的肌肉组织

利用同步加速器辐射X射线断层显微技术(SRXTM),研究湖南省王村化石库的化石胚胎Markuelia hunanensis.所研究的标本保存了头部和尾部表皮下的栅栏状结构,对这些结构进行三维重建后,发现栅栏结构为环形,呈两侧对称状排列.将头部和尾部的栅栏结构分别解释为可能的咽部和尾刺基部的肌肉组织.对可能的肌肉组织结构...     

A venomous arthropod in the Early Cambrian Sea

A number of recently evolved animals possess poison glands for feeding and/or defense.However,examples of such animals are rare in the fossil record.We report a fossil arthropod Isoxys curvirostratus from the Early Cambrian Chengjiang biota of China.This species is regarded as the oldest known venomous arthropod based on the presence of venomous glands in its head region.The adult animal is 2-5 cm long and the body is covered entirely with a carapace.The presence of large stalk eyes and a pair of stout grasping appendages with a terminal spine suggest it was raptorial.Interestingly,the two pear-shaped,three-dimensionally preserved objects that are present in the head region and at the base of the grasping appendages closely resemble the venom glands of some living arthropods in size,shape,and position.These features indicate that the presence of venomous predators could date back 520 million years.Furthermore,our observations suggest that the feeding strategies and organs adapted for this purpose had already reached a high level of diversity and anatomical sophistication in the Early Cambrian ecosystems.     

Head and backbone of the Early Cambrian vertebrate Haikouichthys

Agnathan fish hold a key position in vertebrate evolution, especially regarding the origin of the head and neural-crest-derived tissue. In contrast to amphioxus, lampreys and other vertebrates possess a complex brain and placodes that contribute to well-developed eyes, as well as auditory and olfactory systems. These sensory sytems were arguably a trigger to subsequent vertebrate diversifications. However, although they are known from skeletal impressions in younger Palaeozoic agnathans, information about the earliest records of these systems has been largely wanting. Here we report numerous specimens of the Lower Cambrian vertebrate Haikouichthys ercaicunensis, until now only known from the holotype. Haikouichthys shows significant differences from other fossil agnathans: key features include a small lobate extension to the head, with eyes and possible nasal sacs, as well as what may be otic capsules. A notochord with separate vertebral elements is also identifiable. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that this fish lies within the stem-group craniates. Although Haikouichthys somewhat resembles the ammocoete larva of modern lampreys, this is because of shared general craniate characters; adult lampreys and hagfishes (the cyclostomes if monophyletic) are probably derived in many respects.     

寒武纪叶足动物与现生有爪类的亲缘关系再讨论

目的 对位于中国云南省东部的早寒武世澄江化石库保存的软躯体构造的叶足动物化石进行系统研究,探究叶足动物这一灭绝类群与现生有爪类的亲缘关系.方法 将叶足动物化石与现生有爪类进行形态对比分析,详细讨论它们之间可能的近裔特征,从生物演化角度系统探究两者之间的亲缘关系.结果 叶足动物与现生有爪类亲缘关系相对较远.结论 现生有爪类极有可能是叶足动物演化过程中的一个侧支.     

An epipodite-bearing crown-group crustacean from the Lower Cambrian

Crown-group crustaceans (Eucrustacea) are common in the fossil record of the past 500 million years back to the early Ordovician period, and very rare representatives are also known from the late Middle and Late Cambrian periods. Finds in Lower Cambrian rocks of the Phosphatocopina, the fossil sister group to eucrustaceans, imply that members of the eucrustacean stem lineage co-occurred, but it remained unclear whether crown-group members were also present at that time. 'Orsten'-type fossils are typically tiny embryos and cuticle-bearing animals, of which the cuticle is phosphatized and the material is three-dimensional and complete with soft parts. Such fossils are found predominantly in the Cambrian and Ordovician and provide detailed morphological and phylogenetic information on the early evolution of metazoans. Here we report an Orsten-type Konservat-Lagerst?tte from the Lower Cambrian of China that contains at least three new arthropod species, of which we describe the most abundant form on the basis of exceptionally well preserved material of several growth stages. The limb morphology and other details of this new species are markedly similar to those of living cephalocarids, branchiopods and copepods and it is assigned to the Eucrustacea, thus representing the first undoubted crown-group crustacean from the early Cambrian. Its stratigraphical position provides substantial support to the proposition that the main cladogenic event that gave rise to the Arthropoda was before the Cambrian. Small leaf-shaped structures on the outer limb base of the new species provide evidence on the long-debated issue of the origin of epipodites: they occur in a set of three, derive from setae and are a ground-pattern feature of Eucrustacea.     

鄂尔多斯东南部三山子组储层特征研究

通过对鄂尔多斯东南部寒武系三山子组的薄片资料进行分析,结合岩心观察和野外剖面资料,发现三山子组的储层岩性主要为颗粒灰岩、颗粒白云岩、砂（砾）屑白云岩等;储集空间主要为晶间孔、粒间孔和构造裂缝等;物性方面三山子组储集岩的物性较差,属于低孔-低渗储层,局部地区发现有中孔、中－高渗段储层;储层发育主要受到中央古隆起和沉积环境,白云石化作用、岩溶（溶蚀）作用、压实―压溶作用和胶结作用等成岩作用和构造作用所控制。     

Discovery of hydrothermal venting community at the base of Cambrian barite in Guizhou Province, Western China: Implication for the Cambrian biological explosion

The barite deposit in the Niutitang Formation of Lower Cambrian, in Tianzhu County, Guizhou Province, western China, is a superlarge barite deposit with about 2 × 10^9 tons of reserves. Mineral, petrological and geochemical studies reveal that this barite deposit belongs to a hydrothermal sedimentary deposit. Microscopic observations indicate that a lot of algae, sponge spicules and tube-type fossils are well-preserved in this barite section, and moreover, those fossils share most characteristics of the deep-sea hydrothermal venting community in the modern Pacific. We suggest that the hydrothermal venting community was thriving in hydrothermal vent in early Cambrian, and it is of great significance for elucidating the geological background of the ＂Cambrian explosion＂.     

Eocrinoids from the Cambrian Mantou Formation of Dalian, Liaoning

Cambrian echinoderms,especially eocrinoids,have been reported recently from Guizhou and Yunnan provinces of China,such as the Kaili,Balang,and Guanshan faunas.The present paper reports abundant well-preserved eocrinoids from the Cambrian Mantou Formation of Dalian,Liaoning Province.This new discovery provides additional data on the early evolution of Echinodermata.It also gives us a clue as to where to seek the Cambrian soft-bodied fauna on the margin of the North China Platform.     

Proposal and prospects for the global Lower-Middle Cambrian boundary

In recent years paleontologists have been working on the global stratotype section and standard point (GSSP) for the Lower-Middle Cambrian boundary in North America, China, Morocco, Spain and Russia. Continually, they suggest the potential first appearance datum (FAD) of the Middle Cambrian, such as Oryctocephalus indicus, Ovatoryctocara granulata, Acadoparadoxides mureroensis, Hupeolenus and Arthricocephalus chauveaui as being relevant to the potential stratotype section for the Lower-Middle Cambrian boundary. There are only a few trilobites distributed widely enough in the Early to Middle Cambrian connection, so virtually no trilobite(s) can act as the FAD for the global Middle Cambrian. The easily identified Oryctocephalus indicus is widely distributed in three realms of the global Cambrian. Its first appearance position is linked to the extinction of old species coevolution of new ones. It appears to be a comparatively good FAD of Middle Cambrian. The continuous and unbroken Wuliu section (Balang, Taijiang County, Guizhou Province, China) includes O. indicus and co-occurs with many benthic and nektonic trilobites. The evolution of acritarchs in the section, the changed characteristics of trace elements (REE and C isotopes) are generally consistent with the evolution of trilobites both above and below the boundary. Strata above the boundary yield the famous Kaili Biota. The Wuliu section is easily accessible from a main highway.     

Discussion on the systematic position of the Early Cambrian priapulomorph worms

Priapulid worms form a small marine phylum in present-day environments with only 18 described spe- cies, but they were the most abundant animals in the endobenthic communities of the Cambrian. They are particularly well represented in the Lower Cambrian M…     

An Early Cambrian tunicate from China

Like the Burgess Shales of Canada, the Chengjiang Lagerst?tte from the Lower Cambrian of China is renowned for the detailed preservation as fossils of delicate, soft-bodied creatures, providing an insight into the Cambrian explosion. The fossils of possible hemichordate chordates and vertebrates have attracted particular attention. Tunicates, or urochordates, comprise the most basal chordate clade, and details of their evolution could be important in understanding the sequence of character acquisition that led to the emergence of chordates and vertebrates. However, definitive fossils of tunicates from the Cambrian are scarce or debatable. Here we report a probable tunicate Cheungkongella ancestralis from the Chengjiang fauna. It resembles the extant ascidian tunicate genus Styela whose morphology could be useful in understanding the origin of the vertebrates.     

A Cambrian micro-lobopodian and the evolution of arthropod locomotion and reproduction

The evolutionary success of arthropods, the most abundant and diverse animal group, is mainly based on their segmented body and jointed appendages, features that had evolved most likely already before the Cambrian. The first arthropod-like animals, the lobopodians from the Early Cambrian, were unsclerotized and worm-like, and they had unjointed tubular legs. Here we describe the first three-dimensionally preserved Cambrian lobopodian. The material presented of Orstenotubulus evamuellerae gen. et sp. nov. is the smallest and youngest of a lobopodian known. O. evamuellerae shows strikingly detailed similarities to Recent tardigrades and/or onychophorans in its cellular-structured cuticle and the telescopic spines. It also shows similarities to other, longer known lobopodians, but which are ten times as large as the new form. These similarities include the finely annulated body and legs, which is characteristic also for Recent onychophorans, and paired humps continuing into spines situated dorsally to the leg insertions, a feature lacking in the extant forms. The morphology of O. evamuellerae not only elucidates our knowledge about lobopodians, but also aids in a clearer picture of the early evolution of arthropods. An example is the single ventral gonopore between a limb pair of O. evamuellerae, which indicates that a single gonopore, as developed in onychophorans, tardigrades, pentastomids, myriapods and insects, might represent the plesiomorphic state for Arthropoda, while the paired state in chelicerates and crustaceans was convergently achieved. Concerning life habits, the lateral orientation of the limbs and their anchoring spines of the new lobopodian imply that early arthropods were crawlers rather than walkers.     

下寒武统黑色页岩金属富集机理与小行星撞击

扬子地台寒武系下统存在富含V、Ni、Mo和铂族元素(platinum group element, PGE)等的黑色页岩,局部地区有U或者Ba、Hg、As等的富集,研究这些元素富集机理有利于寻找相关矿产或者探究地质事件。6 500万年前的小行星撞击地球产生了高PGE含量的地层或者化石,依据这一事实和陨石的特征及其他地质地球化学证据,推断下寒武统黑色页岩中Ni-Mo-PGE富集是陨石撞击结果,PGE中的Ir、Os富集最明显是因为二者最抗淋滤。U在康滇地轴东侧黑色页岩中最高可达480×10^-6,因康滇地轴本身就存在混合型铀矿,推测黑色页岩中U来自它的风化。据V和Ba-Hg-As等的地化特性,认为V富集是受生物活动影响,但因V易于在热泉水中富集,故寒武纪早期泛非运动的构造-热事件可导致V富集成矿,Ba、Hg、As也因该事件产生构造裂隙后,它们优先随热液沿裂隙上升富集,并在海底局部成矿。此外,5.65亿年前的埃迪卡拉动物群发生地基本上就是5.8亿年前小行星撞击地点,提出此次行星撞击可能与埃迪卡拉生物群出现存在因果关系。由于在中国存在寒武纪澄江生物群大爆发事件,推测该次生物...