Echinoderms in the Kaili Biota
Yuanlong Zhao1†, Maoyan Zhu2, Loren E. Babcock3, Jin Peng1, Jinliang Yuan2, Ruidong Yang1 and Xinglian Yang1
1 College of Resource and Environment Engineering, Guizhou University, Guiyang, China
2 Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
3 Department of Geology Sciences, Ohio State University, Colunmbus, Ohio, USA
The Kaili Biota, which is earliest Cambrian Series 3 in age, is one of the most important Burgess Shale-type biotas. It is preserved in grey-green shale in the middle-upper part of the Kaili Formation (Cambrian series 2 to 3) at Balang Village, Guizhou Province, southwestern China. It contains biomineralized and non-mineralized fossils representative of 10 higher taxa and trace fossils. The most noteworthy fossils in Kaili Biota are echinoderms, soft bodied fossils and non-trilobite arthropods. The biota includes over 130 genera of animals, placing the Kaili Biota among the three most diverse Burgess Shale-type lagerstätten. The Kaili Biota is evolutionarily intermediate between the older Chengjiang biota and the younger Burgess Shale biota. The Kaili biota has 30 genera in common with the nearby (but earlier) Chengjiang biota, and 38 genera in common with the distant but more contemporary Burgess Shale, showing that the Cambrian soft-bodied fauna had a relatively cosmopolitan distribution in space, but changed significantly over time. The Kaili Biota is the only Cambrian fauna with well preserved, well represented echinoderm fossils. Echinoderms are represented by 8 genera in the Eocrinozoa (Blastozoa), Edrioasteroidea (Echionzoa), Homoiostenea (Homalozoa), and one novel family. Gogiid eocrinoids are most common, with over 10 000 specimens collected; they include Sinoeocrinus, Globueocrinus, Balangicystis, Lyracystis, Curtoeorinus and the stalkless "Kailieocrinus". "Kailidicus" is the first Edrioasteroid discovered in the Cambrian of China.