Marocella
| Marocella Temporal range: Early-Middle Cambrian
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| Marocella source: Evans, 1992 | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia
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| Phylum: | |
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| Binomial name | |
| Marocella Geyer 1986[1]
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| Type species | |
| Marocella mira | |
| Species | |
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Marocella is a conical shelly fossil of uncertain affinity (probably a mollusc) known from Cambrian strata of Europe, Morocco, Australia and Antarctica.[2]
Morphology[]
Limpet-like Marocella is a low conical shell with concentric ridges that grew to a couple of centimetres in length.[3]
Affinity[]
Marocella is thought to be a mollusc, although its position within this phylum is undetermined.[3] Relationship to the halkieriids has also been considered.[2]
Ecology[]
Some specimens show evidence of repairing damage caused by predators.[3] It probably moved around on the sea floor.[3] It was geographically widespread.[3]
Distribution[]
Fossils of Marocella have been found in:[4]
- Shackleton Limestone, Antarctica
- and , Australia
- , Morocco
- Sparagmite Formation, Norway
- , Spain
References[]
- ^ Geyer, G. (1986). "Mittelkambrische Mollusken aus Marokko und Spanien". Senckenbergiana Lethaea (in German). 67: 55–118.
- ^ a b Evans, K. R. (1992). "Marocella: Antarctic Specimens of an Enigmatic Cambrian Animal". Journal of Paleontology. 66 (4): 558–562. doi:10.1017/s0022336000024422. JSTOR 1305841.
- ^ a b c d e Skovsted, C. B.; Brock, G. A.; Lindström, A.; Peel, J. S.; Paterson, J. R.; Fuller, M. K. (2007). "Early Cambrian record of failed durophagy and shell repair in an epibenthic mollusc". Biology Letters. 3 (3): 314–317. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2007.0006. PMC 2464687. PMID 17412671.
- ^ Marocella at Fossilworks.org
Categories:
- Cambrian animals
- Prehistoric mollusc genera
- Protostome enigmatic taxa
- Fossils of Antarctica
- Fossils of Australia
- Cambrian animals of Africa
- Fossils of Morocco
- Cambrian animals of Europe
- Cambrian Norway
- Fossils of Norway
- Fossils of Spain
- Fossil taxa described in 1986