Eldonia

Eldonia
Temporal range: Cambrian Stage 3–Middle Ordovician
Eldonia ludwigii from the middle Cambrian Burgess Shale.
Life restoration
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Stem group: Ambulacraria
Clade: †Cambroernida
Class: †Eldonioidea
Family: †Eldoniidae
Genus: †Eldonia
Walcott 1911
Type species
E. ludwigi
Walcott 1911
Species[1]
  • E. ludwigi Walcott 1911
  • E. eumorpha Sun & Hou 1987
  • E. berbera Alessandrello 2003
Synonyms[2]
  • †Yunnanomedusa Sun & Hou 1987
  • ? †Stellostomites Sun & Hou 1987

Eldonia is an extinct soft-bodied[3] cambroernid[4] best known from the Fossil Ridge outcrops of the Burgess Shale, particularly in the 'Great Eldonia layer' in the Walcott Quarry.[5] In addition to over 550 specimens collected by Walcott,[6] 224 specimens of Eldonia are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed, where they comprise 0.43% of the community.[citation needed] Species also occur in the Chengjiang biota,[7] Siberia,[8] and in Upper Ordovician strata of Morocco.[9]

Description

It takes the form of a round, medusoid disk (which originally led to suggestions of a jellyfish affinity)[7] with a C-shaped gut trace. The gut is recalcitrant and can be extracted using Hydrofluoric acid.[10]

A specimen from the Lower Ordovician Madaoyu Formation in Hunan, South China, can be interpreted as the incomplete body of Eldonia or the similar animal. However, its annulation, the structure of the intestine and the shape of the body are more similar to those of Ottoia.[11]

Classification

Walcott's original interpretation as a holothurian was rapidly disputed.[12] Alternative affinities to be suggested, which did not stand the test of time, included the siphonophores[13][14][15] and a coelenterate medusa.[16]

Eldonia and the other Eldoniidae form a clade, Eldonioidea, with the Rotadiscidae and the informal group known as the paropsonemids.[1] The Eldonioidea are, in turn, part of the stem-ambulacrarian clade Cambroernida.[4]

There are three species within Eldonia,[1] although some authors consider E. eumorpha to be a distinct genus, Stellostomites, as S. eumorphus.[17]

Paleoecology

The organism is frequently found in association with the lobopod Microdictyon, which is presumed to have fed on Eldonia.[18]

  • Eldonia berbera
    Eldonia berbera
  • Eldonia ludwigii, Walcott Quarry. About 4 cm long
    Eldonia ludwigii, Walcott Quarry. About 4 cm long

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Schroeder, Paterson & Brock 2018, p. 80–81
  2. ^ Chen, Zhu & Zhou 1995, pp. 240–241
  3. ^ Chen, Zhu & Zhou 1995, p. 214
  4. ^ a b Li et al. 2023, pp. 2362–2364
  5. ^ Gabbott, Zalasiewicz & Collins 2008, p. 311, 316–317
  6. ^ Durham 1974, p. 752
  7. ^ a b Chen, Zhu & Zhou 1995, p. 213
  8. ^ Friend, Zhuravlev & Solov’ev 2002, p. 463
  9. ^ Alessandrello & Bracchi 2003
  10. ^ Butterfield 1990
  11. ^ Fang et al. 2022, p. 5
  12. ^ Clark 1912, pp. 276–278
  13. ^ Madsen 1957, p. 281
  14. ^ Madsen 1962
  15. ^ Madsen 1956
  16. ^ Henning 1960
  17. ^ Caron et al. 2010
  18. ^ Zhang & Hou 2007, pp. 448–449

Works cited

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Eldonia.