Cambroclaves are a group of enigmatic, phosphatized, hollow spine-shaped sclerites, known from their geographically widespread Early to Middle Cambrian fossils,[1] which occur exclusively in shallow waters within the photic zone. They were probably originally aragonitic.[2] They are lobate with long spines protruding centrally; these spines are in some cases (e.g. Zhijinites) pillar-like, constituted of a bundle rods (originally aragonite?) with an Ionic-like appearance.[3] Some taxa have been compared to spicules of ecdysozoan worms,[4] whereas others likely belong to Protomelission-like organisms, which have been argued to be affiliated with the dasycladalean green algae and the bryozoans.[5]
| Cambroclave Temporal range:
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|---|---|
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | incertae sedis |
| Class: | †Cambroclavida Conway Morris and Chen, 1991 |
Families
edit- Family Zhijinitidae (Qian, 1978)
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Wotte, Thomas (2009). "The Youngest Cambroclaves: Cambroclavus absonus from the Middle Cambrian of the Cantabrian Zone (Northwest Spain)". Journal of Paleontology. 83 (1): 128–134. doi:10.1666/08-039R.1.
- ^ Porter, S. M. (2010). "Calcite and aragonite seas and the de novo acquisition of carbonate skeletons". Geobiology. 8 (4): 256–277. doi:10.1111/j.1472-4669.2010.00246.x. PMID 20550583.
- ^ "Lower Cambrian cambroclaves (incertae sedis) from Xinjiang, China, with comments on the morphological variability of sclerites". Palaeontology. 40 (1). 167–189.
- ^ Conway Morris, S.; Peel, J.S. (2010). "New palaeoscolecidan worms from the Lower Cambrian: Sirius Passet, Latham Shale and Kinzers Shale" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 55 (1): 141–156. doi:10.4202/app.2009.0058.
- ^ "Protomelission is a dasyclad alga and not a bryozoan". Nature. 2023.