title: A new phyllopod bed-like assemblage from the Burgess Shale of the Canadian Rockies.
abstract: Burgess Shale-type fossil assemblages provide the best evidence of the 'Cambrian explosion'. Here we report the discovery of an extraordinary new soft-bodied fauna from the Burgess Shale. Despite its proximity (ca. 40 km) to Walcott's original locality, the Marble Canyon fossil assemblage is distinct, and offers new insights into the initial diversification of metazoans, their early morphological disparity, and the geographic ranges and longevity of many Cambrian taxa. The arthropod-dominated assemblage is remarkable for its high density and diversity of soft-bodied fossils, as well as for its large proportion of new species (22% of total diversity) and for the preservation of hitherto unreported anatomical features, including in the chordate Metaspriggina and the arthropod Mollisonia. The presence of the stem arthropods Misszhouia and Primicaris, previously known only from the early Cambrian of China, suggests that the palaeogeographic ranges and longevity of Burgess Shale taxa may be underestimated.
authors: 1] Department of Natural History-Palaeobiology, Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen's Park, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 2C6 [2] Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Willcocks Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3B2 [3] Department of Earth Sciences, University of Toronto, 25 Russell Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3B1.
authors: Jean-Bernard
authors: JB
authors: Caron
authors: Geology Department, Pomona College, 185 E. Sixth Street, Claremont, California 91711, USA.
authors: Robert R
authors: RR
authors: Gaines
authors: 1] Department of Natural History-Palaeobiology, Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen's Park, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 2C6 [2] Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Willcocks Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3B2.
authors: Cédric
authors: C
authors: Aria
authors: Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, 114 Science Place, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada S7N 5E2.
authors: M Gabriela
authors: MG
authors: Mángano
authors: Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Villavägen 16, 75236 Uppsala, Sweden.
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Streng
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001181:Arthropods; D002119:Calcium Carbonate; D002170:Canada; D005580:Fossils; D008903:Minerals; D010802:Phylogeny; D058974:Phylogeography
chemical_list: D008903:Minerals; D002119:Calcium Carbonate