Affinities and functional morphology of the Middle Cambrian ornamented tubules from West Hunan,China  

作　　者：ZHUCaifa DONGXiping 

机构地区：[1]SchoolofEarthandSpaceSciences,PekingUniversity,Beijing100871,China

出　　处：《Progress in Natural Science:Materials International》2004年第10期907-911,共5页自然科学进展·国际材料（英文版）

基　　金：SupportedbytheNationalNaturalScienceFoundationofChina(GrantNos.40372001,40072007),theLaboratoryofPaleobiologyandStratigraphy,NanjingInstituteofGeologyandPalaeontology,ChineseAcademyofSciences(GrantNo.023106),andtheResearchFundforDoctoralProgramofHigherEd

摘　　要：Problematic phosphatic tubular microfossils with ornamented sculptures are documented to exist in limestones of the up-per Middle Cambrian Huaqiao Formation at the Paibi section and the Wangcun section in West Hunan,China.Two morphological pat-terns,including Ornamented Tube Form I and Ornamented Tube Form II are described.Based on the analysis of the preservation,wall structure and composition of the fossils,it is deduced that these ornamented tubes may represent carapace spines of some Cambrian arthro-pods with phosphatic carapaces,such as bradoriid crustaceans.Analysis of functional morphology indicates that the sclerites may rather be considered of a defensive than grasping function on the original organism body.Problematic phosphatic tubular microfossils with ornamented sculptures are documented to exist in limestones of the up-per Middle Cambrian Huaqiao Formation at the Paibi section and the Wangcun section in West Hunan,China.Two morphological pat-terns,including Ornamented Tube Form I and Ornamented Tube Form II are described.Based on the analysis of the preservation,wall structure and composition of the fossils,it is deduced that these ornamented tubes may represent carapace spines of some Cambrian arthro-pods with phosphatic carapaces,such as bradoriid crustaceans.Analysis of functional morphology indicates that the sclerites may rather be considered of a defensive than grasping function on the original organism body.

关 键 词：Middle Cambrian ornamented tubes AFFINITIES functional morphology West Hunan 

分 类 号：Q911.2[天文地球—古生物学与地层学]