The earliest known Spongeliomorpha from the Lower Devonian of the northwestern Yangtze Platform, South China

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Highlights

  • An unusually large burrow system from the Lower Devonian is illustrated.

  • It is the earliest known three-dimensional system constructed by crustaceans.

  • Morphological and functional features may be comparable to its modern analogues.

  • Occurrence of the burrows was favored by a higher atmospheric oxygen level.

Abstract

Crustacean trace fossils provide invaluable information to paleobilogical, environmental and ecological interpretations in the Earth history. Here we report an unusually large (segments up to 58 mm across), three-dimensional burrow system from the Lower Devonian Pingyipu Formation, which was deposited in a nearshore setting on the northwestern Yangtze Platform, South China. The burrow system is dominated by horizontally-developed networks probably with vertical shafts connecting to the sediment-water interface. The burrow surfaces show no signs of lining but are characterized by scratches including ridges and bundles of ear-shaped striae, implying an assignation to Spongeliomorpha aff. S. chevronensis (Muñiz and Mayoral 2001). The overall morphological and taphonomic features suggest permanent, open burrows, produced in a substrate with considerable firmness. Further investigation indicates that the burrow system may have been constructed by a colony of large, unknown crustacean with thoracic appendages decorated with acute seta or denticulations. They generally served a combined purpose of dwelling and perhaps feeding on microbial growth accumulating on the tunnel margins. These burrows represent the earliest known three-dimensional burrow systems constructed by a crustacean that may be comparable to their modern analogues in both morphological and functional aspects. The unusually large size of the burrows may have been favored by a higher atmospheric oxygen level during the Early Devonian.

Introduction

Crustacean burrows rank among the most abundant of trace fossils in the marine settings during the geological time (Bromley, 1996; Carmona et al., 2004; Seilacher, 2007) as they are in modern environments (Atkinson and Taylor, 1988; Scott et al., 1988; Griffis and Suchanek, 1991; Nickell and Atkinson, 1995). They played an important role in biotic community construction and may serve as a perfect tool to study community structures and composition of ancient ecosystems (Bromley, 1996; Seilacher, 2007; Buatois and Mángano, 2011; Mángano and Buatois, 2016). While crustaceans are powerful engineers to the environment (Scott et al., 1988; Griffis and Suchanek, 1991; Nickell and Atkinson, 1995), their burrows serve as ideal agents in palaeoenvironmental interpretations as well as to explore the evolution history of crustaceans (Bromley, 1996; Buatois and Mángano, 2011; Knaust and Bromley, 2012).

Spongeliomorpha is a three-dimensional tunnel network with vertical shafts connecting to the sediment-water interface (Gibert and Robles, 2005; Gibert and Ekdale, 2010). Various animals, especially decapod crustaceans (D'Alessandro and Bromley, 1995; Bromley, 1996; Muñiz and Mayoral, 2001; Seilacher, 2007) and stomatopod crustaceans (Carmona et al., 2004; Lewy and Goldring, 2006) are believed to be constructors of this ichnofossil. As a facies-crossing trace fossil (Carey, 1979; Uchman, 1998; Carmona et al., 2004; Miguez-Salas et al., 2018) with an earliest occurrence during the Emsian Stage of the Early Devonian (Zhang and Zhao, 2016; Buatois and Mángano, 2018), it displays diverse and complex functions including feeding, dwelling and breeding (Frey et al., 1984; D'Alessandro and Bromley, 1995; Muñiz and Mayoral, 2001; Gibert and Robles, 2005; Lewy and Goldring, 2006). Nevertheless, evolutionary path of Spongeliomorpha ichnofossils, including their morphological and functional features, and trace maker identity prior to the Emsian is still an enigma.

The Lower Devonian Pingyipu Formation in the northwestern Yangtze Platform, South China is a succession of siliciclastic deposits. Unusually large (segments up to 58 mm across), three-dimensional burrow systems assigned to Spongeliomorpha locally occur in several horizons. The well-preserved morphological details provide information to explore by far the earliest known Spongeliomorpha in multiple scopes. Based on systematic observations, this paper aims to: 1) carry out an analysis on the sedimentary environment and give a proper taxonomic assignation to the burrow system; 2) reconstruct the morphological and taphonomic frameworks, and discuss the potential biological and ecological features of the constructor; 3) explore the potential significance in the appearance of large Spongeliomorpha ichnofossils.

Section snippets

Geological setting

The northwestern margin of the Yangtze Platform of South China (Fig. 1A) has gone through a stepwise uplift during the late Silurian, and Early Devonian to early Permian periods, respectively (Wang et al., 2011; Rong et al., 2018). As a result, the Lower Devonian system was restricted to those briefly flooded areas (Haq and Schutter, 2008; Ma et al., 2009), forming depositional hiatuses with both the overlying and underlying strata. In the studied area (Fig. 1B), the Lower Devonian succession

Materials and methods

The studied material includes specimens housed in the fossil collection of the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology (NIGP), numbering DLS (87–171). The field work was undertaken in the Majia section that is located in an abandoned quarry near the Xuanhe Town (Fig. 1B) (32°39′59″ N, 105°57′52″ E). Here, a well-exposed succession provides perfect horizontal and vertical observations throughout a 60-m interval. Systematic measurements of the Pingyipu Formation were carried out, with a

Sedimentology of ichnofossil-bearing strata

The Pingyipu Formation can be assigned to two lithofacies units, i.e. unit one, the medium- to thick-bedded sandstone (Fig. 3A–D), and unit two, thin-bedded sandstone, siltstone and mudstone (Fig. 3E–H). The former shows sharp contacts with the underlying sediments, where large mud clasts (3–4 cm in diameter) (Fig. 3B), trough cross-stratification (Fig. 3C) and tabular cross-bedding (Fig. 3D) are common. These features suggest a high-energy environment most likely reflecting an upper shoreface

Taxonomic assignation

Morphology of the burrow system suggests branched, scratched, three-dimensional boxwork probably with vertical shafts connecting to the sediment-water interface (Fig. 9A). These features allow an assignation of the burrows to the ichnogenus Spongeliomorpha Saporta, 1887 (Fürsich, 1973; Bromley and Frey, 1974; Calzada, 1981; Ekdale et al., 1984; Muñiz and Mayoral, 2001; Schlirf, 2005; Melchor et al., 2009). In the trace fossil record, several open burrows show high superficial similarities to

Conclusions

Large burrow systems are reported from the lower shoreface setting of the Lower Devonian Pingyipu Formation, northwestern Yangtze Platform, South China. The three-dimensional burrow system is dominated by horizontal branching networks, which may have been connected to the sediment-water interface by vertical shafts. The burrow system, characterized by ridges and bundles of striae, are tentatively assigned to Spongeliomorpha aff. S. chevronensis Muñiz and Mayoral, 2001. Analysis of their

Acknowledgements

This study is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers 41530103, 41521061); Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant number XDB26000000); and State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant number 20192112). The comments from the reviewers (Professor Alfred Uchman, Professor Lijun Zhang and an anonymous reviewer) and editor (Professor

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