Mollisonia

Mollisonia; Temporal range: Cambrian Stage 3–Floian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Chelicerata
Order:	Mollisoniida
Genus:	Mollisonia; Walcott, 1912
Type species
	Mollisonia symmetrica; Walcott 1912
Other species
	Mollisonia plenovenatrix Aria and Caron, 2019; Mollisonia gracilis Walcott, 1912; Mollisonia sinica Zhang et al., 2002;
Synonyms
	Houghtonites Raymond, 1931

Mollisonia is a genus of epifaunal detritivorous arthropod.

Evidence[]

Species are known from the Cambrian Burgess Shale, Langston Formation, and Wheeler Shale of North America, as well as the Chengjiang Biota of China.^[1] Twenty-one specimens of Mollisonia are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed, where they comprise less than 0.1% of the community.^[2] Remains attributed to the genus are also known from the Ordovician Fezouata Formation of Morocco and Greenland.^[3]

Conjectured taxonomy[]

An observation published in 2019 suggests this genus is a basal chelicerate, closer to crown group Chelicerata than members of . It is suggested to be closely related to , , and Thelxiope, which together form the clade Mollisoniida.^[4]

References[]

^ Zhang, Xingliang; Zhao, Yuanlong; Yang, Ruidong; Shu, Degan (November 2002). "The Burgess Shale arthropod Mollisonia (M. sinica new species): new occurrence from the Middle Cambrian Kaili fauna of southwest China". Journal of Paleontology. 76 (6): 1106–1108. doi:10.1017/S0022336000057917. ISSN 0022-3360.
^ Caron, Jean-Bernard; Jackson, Donald A. (October 2006). "Taphonomy of the Greater Phyllopod Bed community, Burgess Shale". PALAIOS. 21 (5): 451–65. doi:10.2110/palo.2003.P05-070R. JSTOR 20173022.
^ Peel, John S.; Willman, Sebastian; Pedersen, Stig A. Schack (March 2020). "Unusual preservation of an Ordovician (Floian) arthropod from Peary Land, North Greenland (Laurentia)". PalZ. 94 (1): 41–51. doi:10.1007/s12542-019-00481-y. ISSN 0031-0220.
^ Aria, Cédric; Caron, Jean-Bernard (September 2019). "A middle Cambrian arthropod with chelicerae and proto-book gills". Nature. 573 (7775): 586–589. doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1525-4. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 31511691.

External links[]

"Mollisonia symmetrica". Burgess Shale Fossil Gallery. Virtual Museum of Canada. 2011.

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[1] Zhang, Xingliang; Zhao, Yuanlong; Yang, Ruidong; Shu, Degan (November 2002). "The Burgess Shale arthropod Mollisonia (M. sinica new species): new occurrence from the Middle Cambrian Kaili fauna of southwest China". Journal of Paleontology. 76 (6): 1106–1108. doi:10.1017/S0022336000057917. ISSN 0022-3360.

[Caron2006-2] Caron, Jean-Bernard; Jackson, Donald A. (October 2006). "Taphonomy of the Greater Phyllopod Bed community, Burgess Shale". PALAIOS. 21 (5): 451–65. doi:10.2110/palo.2003.P05-070R. JSTOR 20173022.

[3] Peel, John S.; Willman, Sebastian; Pedersen, Stig A. Schack (March 2020). "Unusual preservation of an Ordovician (Floian) arthropod from Peary Land, North Greenland (Laurentia)". PalZ. 94 (1): 41–51. doi:10.1007/s12542-019-00481-y. ISSN 0031-0220.

[4] Aria, Cédric; Caron, Jean-Bernard (September 2019). "A middle Cambrian arthropod with chelicerae and proto-book gills". Nature. 573 (7775): 586–589. doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1525-4. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 31511691.

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