Haplophrentis

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Haplophrentis
Temporal range: Middle Cambrian [1]
Haplophrentis.png
Reconstruction of Haplophrentis
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Brachiopoda
Class: Hyolitha
Order: Hyolithida
Family: Hyolithidae
Genus: Haplophrentis
Matthew, 1899
Species
  • H. carinatus(Matthew, 1899) [1] (= H. cecrops Walcott)
  • H. reesei Babcock & Robison 1988 (type)
Haplophrentis carinatus from the Stephen Formation, Burgess Shale (Middle Cambrian), Burgess Pass, British Columbia, Canada. Haplophrentis Burgess Shale.jpg
Haplophrentis carinatus from the Stephen Formation, Burgess Shale (Middle Cambrian), Burgess Pass, British Columbia, Canada.

Haplophrentis is a genus of tiny shelled hyolithid which lived in the Cambrian Period. Its shell was long and conical, with the open end protected by an operculum, from which two fleshy arms called helens protruded at the sides. These arms served to elevate the opening of the shells above the sea floor, acting like stilts. [2]

Contents

Morphology

Shell length of H. reesi reached up to 4.6 centimetres (1.8 in) while H. carinatus reached up to 3.05 centimetres (1.20 in). Juveniles could of course be smaller. [2] It is distinguished from Hyolithes by the presence of a longitudinal septum on the middle of the inner surface of the top of the shell. [1]

Its soft anatomy comprises 12(H. carinatus) to 16 (H. reesi) tentacles attached to a horseshoe-shaped lophophore. A pair of wide structures of uncertain function extend along the length of the conical shell. A larval shell is attached to the shell apex. [2]

Affinity

The soft anatomy of Haplophrentis was key to establishing the hyoliths as members of the Lophophorata, the group containing brachiopods and phoronids. [2] While some studies supported this interpretation, [3] other studies considered hyoliths as basal lophotrochozoan [4] or mollusk. [5] [6]

Ecology

Haplophrentis was a filter feeder, using its lophophore to extract organic matter from passing seawater. [2] Specimens of Haplophrentis have been found in the gut of the predator Ottoia .

Occurrence

186 specimens of Haplophrentis are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed, where they comprise 0.35% of the community. [7] It is also known from several specimens in the Spence Shale, and occurs prolifically at the Marble Canyon locality. Many specimens at Stanley Glacier display soft tissue well. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hyolitha</span> Palaeozoic lophophorates with small conical shells

Hyoliths are animals with small conical shells, known from fossils from the Palaeozoic era. They are at least considered as being lophotrochozoan, and possibly being lophophorates, a group which includes the brachiopods, while others consider them as being basal lophotrochozoans, or even molluscs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maotianshan Shales</span> Series of Early Cambrian deposits in the Chiungchussu Formation

The Maotianshan Shales (帽天山页岩) are a series of Early Cambrian sedimentary deposits in the Chiungchussu Formation, famous for their Konservat Lagerstätten, deposits known for the exceptional preservation of fossilized organisms or traces. The Maotianshan Shales form one of some forty Cambrian fossil locations worldwide exhibiting exquisite preservation of rarely preserved, non-mineralized soft tissue, comparable to the fossils of the Burgess Shale of British Columbia, Canada. They take their name from Maotianshan Hill in Chengjiang County, Yunnan Province, China.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lophophore</span>

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<i>Orthrozanclus</i> Extinct genus of Cambrian animals

Orthrozanclus is a genus of sea creatures known from two species, O. reburrus from the Middle Cambrian Burgess shale and O. elongata from Early Cambrian Maotianshan Shales. Animals in this genus were one to two centimeters long, with spikes protruding from their armored bodies. The placement of this genus into a specific family is not universally accepted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Halwaxiida</span> Proposed clade of extinct Lophotrochozoa

Halwaxiida or halwaxiids is a proposed clade equivalent to the older orders Sachitida He 1980 and Thambetolepidea Jell 1981, loosely uniting scale-bearing Cambrian animals, which may lie in the stem group to molluscs or lophotrochozoa. Some palaeontologists question the validity of the Halwaxiida clade.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marble Canyon (Canadian Rockies)</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siphonotretida</span> Extinct order of marine lamp shells

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<i>Wufengella</i> Extinct genus of invertebrates

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Babcock, L. E.; Robison, R. A. (1988). "Taxonomy and paleobiology of some Middle Cambrian Scenella (Cnidaria) and Hyolithids (Mollusca) from western North America" (PDF). University of Kansas Paleontological Contributions. 121: 1–22. ASIN   B00071LPJW. hdl:1808/3638. OCLC   19610612.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Moysiuk, Joseph; Smith, Martin R.; Caron, Jean-Bernard (2017). "Hyoliths are Palaeozoic lophophorates" (PDF). Nature. 541 (7637): 394. Bibcode:2017Natur.541..394M. doi:10.1038/nature20804. PMID   28077871. S2CID   4409157.
  3. Sun, Haijing; Smith, Martin R.; Zeng, Han; Zhao, Fangchen; Li, Guoxiang; Zhu, Maoyan (2018-09-26). "Hyoliths with pedicles illuminate the origin of the brachiopod body plan". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 285 (1887): 20181780. doi:10.1098/rspb.2018.1780. PMC   6170810 . PMID   30257914.
  4. Liu, Fan; Skovsted, Christian B; Topper, Timothy P; Zhang, Zhifei; Shu, Degan (2020-02-01). "Are hyoliths Palaeozoic lophophorates?". National Science Review. 7 (2): 453–469. doi: 10.1093/nsr/nwz161 . ISSN   2095-5138. PMC   8289160 . PMID   34692060.
  5. Li, Luoyang; Zhang, Xingliang; Skovsted, Christian B.; Yun, Hao; Pan, Bing; Li, Guoxiang (2019). Smith, Andrew (ed.). "Homologous shell microstructures in Cambrian hyoliths and molluscs". Palaeontology. 62 (4): 515–532. Bibcode:2019Palgy..62..515L. doi:10.1111/pala.12406. S2CID   134098738.
  6. Li, Luoyang; Skovsted, Christian B.; Yun, Hao; Betts, Marissa J.; Zhang, Xingliang (2020-08-26). "New insight into the soft anatomy and shell microstructures of early Cambrian orthothecids (Hyolitha)". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 287 (1933): 20201467. doi:10.1098/rspb.2020.1467. PMC   7482263 . PMID   32811320.
  7. Caron, Jean-Bernard; Jackson, Donald A. (October 2006). "Taphonomy of the Greater Phyllopod Bed community, Burgess Shale". PALAIOS. 21 (5): 451–65. Bibcode:2006Palai..21..451C. doi:10.2110/palo.2003.P05-070R. JSTOR   20173022. S2CID   53646959.