Probable predation on Upper Cambrian trilobites and its relevance for the extinction of soft-bodied Burgess Shale-type animals

Lethaia

Volumn 31, Issue 1, 1998, Pages 73-88

  Pratt, Brian R ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN   (Canada)

Author keywords

Bioclasts; Burgess Shale; Cambrian; Extinction; Paleoecology; Predation; Trilobites

Indexed keywords

BURGESS SHALE; CAMBRIAN; PREDATION; TRILOBITE;

CANADA;

EID: 0031823965     PISSN: 00241164     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1502-3931.1998.tb00493.x     Document Type: Article

References (89)

1. Allison, P.A. & Briggs, D.E.G. 1993: Burgess Shale biotas: burrowed away? Lethaia 26, 184-185.
2. Alpert, S.P. & Moore, J.N. 1975: Lower Cambrian trace fossil evidence for predation on trilobites. Lethaia 8, 223-230.
3. Babcock, L.E. 1993: Trilobite malformations and the fossil record of behavioral asymmetry. Journal of Paleontology 67, 217-229.
4. Bengtson, S. & Yue Zhao. 1992: Predatorial borings in late Precambrian mineralized exoskeletons. Science 257, 367-369.
5. Birkenmajer, K. 1977: Trace fossil evidence for predation on trilobites from the Lower Cambrian of Spitsbergen. Årbok Norsk Polarinstitutt (1976), 187-194.
6. Bishop, G.A. 1975: Traces of predation. In Frey, R. W. (ed.): The Study of Trace Fossils, 261-281. Springer, New York.
7. Briggs, D.E.G. & Kear, A.J. 1994: Decay and mineralization of shrimps. Palaois, 9, 431-456.
8. Briggs, D.E.G. & Whittington, H.B. 1985a: Modes of life of arthropods from the Burgess Shale, British Columbia. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 76, 149-160.
9. Briggs, D.E.G. & Whittington, H.B. 1985b: Terror of the trilobites. Natural History 1985:12, 34-39.
10. Bruton, D.L. 1981: The arthropod Sidneyia inexpectans. Middle Cambrian, Burgess Shale, British Columbia. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B295, 619-656.
11. Bruton, D.L. & Whittington, H.B. 1983: Emeraldia and Leanchoilia, two arthropods from the Burgess Shale, Middle Cambrian, British Columbia. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B300, 553-585.
12. Burrows, M. 1969: The mechanics and neural control of the prey capture strike in the mantid shrimps Squilla and Hemisquilla. Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Physiologie 62, 361-381.
13. Butterfield, N.J. 1995: Secular distribution of Burgess Shale-type preservation. Lethaia 28, 1-13.
14. Cadée, G.C. 1994: Eider, shelduck, and other predators, the main producers of shell fragments in the Wadden Sea: palaeoecological implications. Palaeontology 37, 181-202.
15. Caldwell, R.L. & Dingle, H. 1976: Stomatopods. Scientific American 234:1, 81-89.
16. Conway Morris, S. 1985: The Middle Cambrian metazoan Wiwaxia corrugata (Matthew) from the Burgess Shale and Ogygopsis Shale, British Columbia, Canada. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B307, 507-586.
17. Conway Morris, S. 1986: The community structure of the Middle Cambrian Phyllopod Bed (Burgess Shale). Palaeontology 25, 423-467.
18. Conway Morris, S. 1989: The persistence of Burgess Shale-type faunas: implications for the evolution of deep-water faunas. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 80, 271-283.
19. Conway Morris, S. & Bengtson, S. 1994: Cambrian predators: possible evidence from boreholes. Journal of Paleontology 68, 1-23.
20. Conway Morris, S. & Jenkins, R.J.F. 1985: Healed injuries in Early Cambrian trilobites from South Australia. Alcheringa 9, 167-177.
21. Conway Morris, S. & Robison, R.A. 1988: More soft-bodied animals and algae from the Middle Cambrian of Utah and British Columbia. The University of Kansas Paleontological Contributions, Paper 122, 1-48.
22. Currey, J.D. 1988: Shell form and strength. In Trueman, E.R. & Clarke, M.R. (eds.): Form and Function, 183-210. The Mollusca 11. Academic Press, San Diego, Cal.
23. Daley, G.M. 1993: Passive deterioration of shelly material: a study of the Recent eastern Pacific articulate brachiopod Terebratalia transversa Sowerby. Palaios 8, 226-232.
24. Fortey, R.A. 1990: Ontogeny, hypostome attachment and trilobite classification. Palaeontology 33, 529-576.
25. Fortey, R.A. & Wilmot, N.V. 1991: Trilobite cuticle thickness in relation to palaeoenvironment. Paläontologische Zeitschrift 65, 141-151.
26. Geary, D.H., Allmon, W.D. & Reaka-Kudla, M.L. 1991: Stomatopod predation on fossil gastropods from the Plio-Pleistocene of Florida. Journal of Paleontology 65, 355-360.
27. Glover, C.P. & Kidwell, S.M. 1993: Influence of organic matrix on the post-mortem destruction of molluscan shells. Journal of Geology 101, 729-747.
28. Gould, S.J. 1991: The disparity of the Burgess Shale arthropod fauna and the limits of cladistic analysis: why we must strive to quantify morphospace. Paleobiology 17, 411-423.
29. Henderson, R.A. 1976: Stratigraphy of the Georgina Limestone and a revised zonation for the early Upper Cambrian Idamean stage. Journal of the Geological Society of Australia 23, 423-433.
30. Hesselbo, S.P. 1992: Aglaspidida (Arthropoda) from the Upper Cambrian of Wisconsin. Journal of Paleontology 66, 885-923.
31. Hollmann, R. 1968: Zur Morphologic rezenter Mollusken-Bruchschille. Paläontologische Zeitschrift 42, 217-235.
32. Hou Xian-guang, Bergström, J. & Ahlberg, P. 1995: Anomalocaris and other large animals in the Lower Cambrian Chengjiang fauna of southwest China. GFF 117, 163-183.
33. Hughes, N.C. 1993: Distribution, taphonomy and functional morphology of the Upper Cambrian trilobite Dikelocephalus. Milwaukee Public Museum Contributions in Biology and Geology 84, 1-49.
34. Jackson, A.P., Vincent, J.F.V. & Turner, R.M. 1988: The mechanical design of nacre. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B234, 415-440.
35. Jago, J.B. 1974: Evidence for scavengers from Middle Cambrian sediments. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Monatshefte 1974, 13-17.
36. Jell, P.A. 1990: Trilobita. In Bengtson, S. et al. (eds.): Early Cambrian fossils from South Australia, 257-322. Australasian Association of Palaeontologists, Memoir 9.
37. Kaesler, R.L., Kontrovitz, M. & Taunton, S. 1993: Crushing strength of Puriana pacifica (Ostracoda), an experimental approach. Journal of Paleontology 67, 1005-1010.
38. Kidwell, S.M. & Bosence, D.W.J. 1991: Taphonomy and time-averaging of marine shelly faunas. In Allison, P.A. & Briggs, D.E.G. (eds.): Taphonomy: Releasing the Data Locked in the Fossil Record, 115-209. Topics in Geobiology 9. Plenum, New York, N.Y.
39. Kobayashi, T. 1938: Upper Cambrian fossils from British Columbia with a discussion on the isolated occurrence of the so-called 'Olenus' beds of Mt. Jubilee. Japanese Journal of Geology and Geography 15, 149-192.
40. LaBarbera, M. & Merz, R.A. 1992: Postmortem changes in strength of gastropod shells: evolutionary implications for hermit crabs, snails, and their mutual predators. Paleobiology 18, 367-377.
41. Liñan, E. 1978: Riojaia perezi, un nuevo trilobitoideo del Cámbrico medio de la sierra de la Demanda (España). Estudios Geológicos 34, 319-321.
42. Lochman, C. 1938: Upper Cambrian faunas of the Cap Mountain Formation of Texas. Journal of Paleontology 12, 72-85.
43. Lochman, C. 1941: A pathologic pygidium from the Upper Cambrian of Missouri. Journal of Paleontology 15, 324-325.
44. Lochman, C. & Duncan, D. 1944. Early Upper Cambrian faunas of central Montana. Geological Society of America Special Paper 38, 1-181.
45. Ludvigsen, R. 1977: Rapid repair of traumatic injury by an Ordovician trilobite. Lethaia 10, 205-207.
46. Ludvigsen, R. 1979: A trilobite zonation of Middle Ordovician rocks, southwestern District of Mackenzie. Geological Survey of Canada Bulletin 312, 1-99.
47. Ludvigsen, R. & Westrop, S.R. 1985: Three new Upper Cambrian stages for North America. Geology 13, 139-143.
48. MacLeod, K.G. & Orr, W.N. 1993: The taphonomy of Maastrichtian in oceramids in the Basque region of France and Spain and the pattern of their decline and disappearance. Paleobiology 19, 235-250.
49. Masiak, M. & Zylińska, A. 1994: Burgess Shale-type fossils in Cambrian sandstones of the Holy Cross Mountains. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 39, 329-340.
50. Matthew, G.F. 1899: Studies on Cambrian faunas. 3. Upper Cambrian fauna of Mount Stephen, British Columbia. The trilobites and worms. Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada 5, 39-66.
51. McNamara, K.J. & Rudkin, D.M. 1984: Techniques of trilobite exuviation. Lethaia 17, 153-173.
52. Müller, K.J. & Walossek, D. 1987: Morphology, ontogeny, and life habit of Agnostus pisiformis from the Upper Cambrian of Sweden. Fossils and Strata 19, 1-124.
53. Owen, A.W. 1985: Trilobite abnormalities. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 76, 255-272.
54. Palmer, A.R. 1962: Glyptagnostus and associated trilobites in the United States. U.S. Geological Survey, Professional Paper 374-F, 1-49.
55. Palmer, A.R. 1984: The biomere problem: evolution of an idea. Journal of Paleontology 58, 599-611.
56. Peng, S. 1992: Upper Cambrian biostratigraphy and trilobite faunas of the Cili-Taouyan area, northwestern Hunan, China. Association of Australasian Palaeontologists, Memoir 13, 1-119.
57. Pether, J. 1995: Belichnus new ichnogenus, a ballistic trace on mollusc shells from the Holocene of the Benguela region. South Africa. Journal of Paleontology 69, 171-181.
58. Poulsen, V. 1960: Fossils from the late Middle Cambrian Bolaspidella Zone of Mendoza, Argentina. Matematisk-fysiske Meddelelser, det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab 32:11. 42 pp.
59. Pratt, B.R. 1992: Trilobites of the Marjuman and Steptoean stages (Upper Cambrian), Rabbitkettle Formation, southern Mackenzie Mountains, northwest Canada. Palaeontographica Canadiana 9, 1-179.
60. Pratt, B.R. 1998a: 'Molar-tooth structure' in Proterozoic carbonate rocks: Origin from synsedimentary earthquakes, and implications for the nature and evolution of basins and marine sediment. Geological Society of America Bulletin 110 (in press).
61. Pratt, B.R. 1998b: Syneresis cracks: subaqueous shrinkage in argillaceous sediments caused by earthquake-induced dewatering. Sedimentary Geology 117, 1-10.
62. Pratt, B.R. & Waldron, J.W.F. 1991: A Middle Cambrian trilobite faunule from the Meguma Group of Nova Scotia. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 28, 1843-1853.
63. Rasetli, F. 1967: Lower and Middle Cambrian trilobite faunas from the Taconic sequence of New York. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 152:4, 1-111.
64. Resser, C.E. 1938: Cambrian System (restricted) of the southern Appalachians. Geological Society of America Special Paper 15. 140 pp.
65. Robison, R.A. 1976: Middle Cambrian trilobite biostratigraphy of the Great Basin. Brigham Young University Geology Studies 23, 93-109.
66. Robison, R.A. 1988: Trilobites of the Holm Dal Formation (late Middle Cambrian), central North Greenland, in Peel, J.S. (ed.): Stratigraphy and Palaeontology of the Holm Dal Formation (late Middle Cambrian), central North Greenland. Meddelelser om Grønland, Geoscience 20, 23-103.
67. Robison, R.A. 1991: Middle Cambrian biotic diversity: examples from four Utah Lagerstätten. In Simonetta, A. & Conway Morris, S. (eds.): The Early Evolution of Metazoa and the Significance of Problematic Taxa, 77-98. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
68. Robison, R.A. & Pantoja-Alor, J. 1968: Tremadocian trilobites from the Nochixtlan region, Oaxaca, Mexico. Journal of Paleontology 42, 97-104.
69. Rominger, C.L. 1887: Description of primordial fossils from Mt. Stephens, NW Territory of Canada. Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Proceedings for 1887, 12-19.
70. Rudkin, D.M. 1979: Healed injuries in Ogygopsis klotzi (Trilobita) from the Middle Cambrian of British Columbia. Royal Ontario Museum, Life Sciences Occasional Paper 32, 1-8.
71. Schram, F.R. 1981: Late Paleozoic crustacean communities, Journal of Paleontology 55, 126-137.
72. Shumard, B.F. 1861: The Primordial zone of Texas with descriptions of new fossils. American Journal of Science (S. 2) 32, 213-221.
73. Signor, P.W. & Brett, C.E. 1984: The mid-Paleozoic precursor to the Mesozoic marine revolution. Paleobiology 10, 229-245.
74. Snajdr, M. 1978: Anomalous carapaces of Bohemian paradoxid trilobites. Sbornik Geologickych Věd, Paleontologie 20, 7-31.
75. Song, Y., Black, R.G. & Lipps, J.H. 1994: Morphological optimization in the largest living foraminifera: implications from finite element analysis. Paleobiology 20, 14-26.
76. Sprinkle, J. 1973: Morphology and evolution of blastozoan echinoderms. Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Special Publication, 1-283.
77. Taylor, J.D. & Layman, M. 1972: The mechanical properties of bivalve (Mollusca) shell structures. Palaeontology 15, 73-87.
78. Vermeij, G.J. 1977: The Mesozoic marine revolution: evidence from snails, predators, and grazers. Paleobiology 3, 245-258.
79. Walcott, C.D. 1911. Cambrian geology and paleontology. II. Middle Cambrian Merostomata. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 57, 17-40,
80. Walcott, C.D. 1912. Cambrian geology and paleontology. II. Middle Cambrian Branchiopoda, Malacostraca, Trilobita and Merostomata. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 57, 145-228.
81. Walcott, C.D. 1916. Cambrian geology and paleontology. III. Cambrian trilobites. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 64, 157-256.
82. Westrop, S.R. 1986: Taphonomic versus ecologic controls on taxonomic relative abundance patterns in tempestites. Letliaia 19, 123-132.
83. Whittington, H.B. 1974: Yohoia Walcott and Plenocaris n. gen., arthropods from the Burgess Shale, Middle Cambrian, British Columbia. Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin 231, 1-27.
84. Whittington, H.B. 1992: Trilobites. Fossils Illustrated. Vol. 2. Boydell Press, Woodbridge, Suffolk. 145 pp.
85. Whittington, H.B. & Briggs, D.E.G. 1985: The largest Cambrian animal, Anomalocaris, Burgess Shale, British Columbia. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B309, 569-609.
86. Wilmot, N.V. 1990a: Primary and diagenetic microstructures in trilobite exoskeletons. Historical Biology 4, 51-65.
87. Wilmot, N.V. 1990b: Biomechanics of trilobite exoskeletons. Palaeontology 33, 749-768.
88. Wilson, I.L. 1954. Late Cambrian and Early Ordovician trilobites from the Marathon Uplift, Texas. Journal of Paleontology 28, 249-285.
89. Yergaliev, G. Kh. [Ergaliev, G. Kh.] 1980: Trilobity srednego i verkhnego kembriya Malogo Karatau. [Trilobites of the Middle and Upper Cambrian of Maly Karatau.] 211 pp. Institut Geologicheskikh Nauk, Akademiya Nauk Kazakhskoj SSR, Alma-Ata. [In Russian.]