Morphology and palaeoecology of a new edrioblastoid from the Furongian of China
Xuejian Zhu, Samuel Zamora, and Bertrand Lefebvre
A new edrioblastoid Cambroblastus guolensis is described from the Furongian (late Cambrian) Sandu Formation (South China). This represents the second occurrence of a Cambrian edrioblastoid, and the first ever reported from Asia, extending the palaeogeographic range of this very rare echinoderm grade. Surprisingly it preserves a complete stem and a distal holdfast suggesting edrioblastoids were hard substrate attachers living in soft bottom quiet environments.
Xuejian Zhu [xuejianzhu9@hotmail.com], Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China, and Department of Earth Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China; Samuel Zamora [samuel@unizar.es], Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, 20013–7012, USA (corresponding author); Bertrand Lefebvre [bertrand.lefebvre@univ-lyon1.fr], UMR CNRS 5276, Géode, Université Lyon 1, 2 rue Dubois, 69622 Villeurbanne cedex, France.
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