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https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/1589
Title: | The Scleritome of 'Eccentrotheca' from the Lower Cambrian of South Australia: Lophophorate affinities and implications for tommotiid phylogeny | Contributor(s): | Skovsted, CB (author); Brock, GA (author); Paterson, John Richard (author) ; Holmer, LE (author); Budd, G (author) | Publication Date: | 2008 | DOI: | 10.1130/G24385A.1 | Handle Link: | https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/1589 | Abstract: | The first partially articulated scleritome of a tommotiid, 'Eccentrotheca' sp., is described from the Lower Cambrian of South Australia. The 'Eccentrotheca' scleritome consists of individual sclerites fused in a spiral arrangement, forming a tapering tube-shaped skeleton with an inclined apical aperture and a circular to subcircular cross section. Traditionally, tommotiid sclerites have been assumed to form a dorsal armor of imbricating phosphatic plates in slug-like bilaterians, analogous to the calcareous sclerites of halkieriids. The structure of the 'Eccentrotheca' scleritome is here reinterpreted as a tube composed of independent, irregularly shaped sclerites growing by basal-marginal accretion that were successively fused to form a rigid, protective tubular structure. The asymmetrical shape and sometimes acute inclination of the apical aperture suggests that the apical part of the scleritome was cemented to a hard surface via a basal disc, from which it projected vertically. Rather than being a vagrant member of the benthos, 'Eccentrotheca' most likely represented a sessile, vermiform filter feeder. The new data suggest that the affinities of 'Eccentrotheca', and possibly some other problematic tommotiids, lie with the lophophorates (i.e., the phoronids and brachiopods), a clade that also possesses a phosphatic shell chemistry and a sessile life habit. | Publication Type: | Journal Article | Source of Publication: | Geology, 36(2), p. 171-174 | Publisher: | Geological Society of America | Place of Publication: | United States of America | ISSN: | 1943-2682 0091-7613 |
Fields of Research (FoR) 2008: | 040308 Palaeontology (incl Palynology) | Peer Reviewed: | Yes | HERDC Category Description: | C1 Refereed Article in a Scholarly Journal |
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Appears in Collections: | Journal Article |
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