Selkirkia

For the plant genus, see Selkirkia (plant).

Selkirkia
Temporal range: Cambrian Stage 3–Floian
Selkirkia columbia fossil from the Burgess Shale. From Smith et al. (2015)[2]
Restoration of Selkirkia columbia
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Stem group: Priapulida (?)
Class: †Archaeopriapulida
Family: †Selkirkiidae
Conway Morris, 1977[1]
Genus: †Selkirkia
Walcott, 1911
Species
  • S. columbia Conway Morris, 1977
  • S. elongata Luo & Hu, 1999
  • S. sinica Luo & Hu, 1999
  • S. spencei Resser, 1939
  • S. willoughbyi Conway Morris & Robison, 1986
  • S. tsering Nanglu 2024

Selkirkia is a genus of predatory,[3] tubicolous priapulid worms known from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale, Ogygopsis Shale, Puncoviscana Formation[4] and the Early Ordovician Fezouata Formation.[5] 142 specimens of Selkirkia are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed, where they comprise 0.27% of the community.[6] In the Burgess Shale, 20% of the tapering, organic-walled tubes are preserved with the worm inside them, whereas the other 80% are empty (or sometimes occupied by one or more small agnostid trilobites).[3] Whilst alive, the tubes were probably vertical, whereas trilobite-occupied tubes are horizontal.[3]

  1. ^ Conway Morris, S (1977). "Fossil priapulid worms". Special Papers in Palaeontology. 20.
  2. ^ Smith, M. R.; Harvey, T. H. P.; Butterfield, N. J. (2015). "The macro- and microfossil record of the Cambrian priapulid Ottoia" (PDF). Palaeontology. 58 (4): 705–721. Bibcode:2015Palgy..58..705S. doi:10.1111/pala.12168.
  3. ^ a b c Chatterton, B. D. E.; Collins, D. H.; Ludvigsen, R. (2003). "Cryptic behaviour in trilobites: Cambrian and Silurian examples from Canada, and other related occurrences". In Lane, P. D; Siveter, D. J; Fortey, R. A (eds.). Trilobites and Their Relatives. Special Papers in Palaeontology. Vol. 70. The Palaeontological Association. pp. 157–173. ISBN 978-0-901702-81-4.
  4. ^ Aceñolaza, Florencio; Guillermo, Aceñolaza (2005). "La formación Puncoviscana y unidades estratigráficas vinculadas en el neoproterozoico - Cámbrico temprano del noroeste argentino" (PDF). Latin American Journal of Sedimentology and Basin Analysis (in Spanish). 12 (2): 65–87. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
  5. ^ Nanglu, Karma; Ortega-Hernández, Javier (March 2024). "Post-Cambrian survival of the tubicolous scalidophoran Selkirkia". Biology Letters. 20 (3). doi:10.1098/rsbl.2024.0042. ISSN 1744-957X. PMID 38531414.
  6. ^ 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.