Occurrence of the eudemersal radiodont Cambroraster in the early Cambrian Chengjiang Lagerstätte and the diversity of hurdiid ecomorphotypes

Yu Liu (1, 2) , Rudy Lerosey-Aubril (3) , Denis Audo (1, 2) , Dayou Zhai (1, 2) , Huijuan Mai (1, 2) , Javier Ortega-Hernández (3)

1 Yunnan University
2 MEC - MEC International Joint Laboratory for Palaeobiology and Palaeoenvironment
3 Museum of Comparative Zoology & Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University

Abstract Radiodonts are a diverse clade of Lower Palaeozoic stem-group euarthropods that played a key role in the emergence of complex marine trophic webs. The latest addition to the group, Cambroraster falcatus , was recently described from the Wuliuan Burgess Shale, and is characterized by a unique horseshoe-shaped central carapace element. Here we report the discovery of Cambroraster sp. nov. A, a new species from the Cambrian Stage 3 Chengjiang Lagerstätte of South China. The new occurrence of Cambroraster demonstrates that some of the earliest known radiodonts had already evolved a highly derived carapace morphology adapted to an essentially eudemersal life as sediment foragers.

Domains: Sciences of the Universe [physics]; Earth Sciences; Paleontology; Life Sciences [q-bio]; Biodiversity; Systematics, Phylogenetics and taxonomy; Life Sciences [q-bio]; Biodiversity; Populations and Evolution [q-bio.PE]

Yu Liu, Rudy Lerosey-Aubril, Denis Audo, Dayou Zhai, Huijuan Mai, et al.. Occurrence of the eudemersal radiodont Cambroraster in the early Cambrian Chengjiang Lagerstätte and the diversity of hurdiid ecomorphotypes. Geological Magazine, 2020, 157 (7), pp.1200-1206. ⟨10.1017/S0016756820000187⟩. ⟨mnhn-03822551⟩