Sirius Passet
Sirius Passet is a special fossil site, a Cambrian lagerstätte in Greenland. It is from six places on the eastern shore of a fjord in the far north of Greenland.[1] It was discovered in 1984. About 10,000 fossil specimens have been collected so far.
The fauna is just before that of the Burgess Shale, probably ten to fifteen million years older – 518 vs. 505 mya.[2] There were no vertebrates at that time: all the animals were invertebrates.
The fauna includes some arthropods and sponges, and rare representatives of other groups. A polychaete annelid from the Sirius Passet was described in 2008.[3] Polychaete annelids are a significant part of the Burgess Shale fauna, but are otherwise unknown from the other early Cambrian lagerstätten. This single species from a single place improves our knowledge of this group.
Sirius Passet Media
Location of Sirius Passet during the early Cambrian
Reconstruction of the Lower Cambrian arthropod Aaveqaspis inesoni
Arthroaspis bergstroemi n. gen. n. sp. A. MGUH 30382pt, holotype, large individual (200 mm); B. MGUH 30405, small individual (87 mm), B1 same scale as A. Both specimens with 14 thoracic tergites, indicating that the small specimen already is a holaspid. For abbreviations see Table 1.
Drawing of a "Buenaspis fortey", Order Nectaspida, Family Liwiidae, a Lower Cambrian arthropod found at the Sirius Passet, North Greenland
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Reconstructions of various arthropods of the Sirius Passet Lagerstätten, including the aberrantly elongated trilobite
Life restoration of Sidneyia inexpectans from the Burgess Shale to which the Sirius Passet form has been considered closely related
Thulaspis tholops (MGUH:34172a)
Reconstruction of Isoxys volucris of the Sirius Passet
Reconstrucción de Kiisortoqia soperi.
References
- ↑ Peel J.S. & Ineson J.R. 2011. The extent of the Sirius Passet Lagerstätte (early Cambrian) of North Greenland. Bulletin of Geosciences 535. [1]
- ↑ Stein, Martin 2010. A new arthropod from the early Cambrian of North Greenland, with a 'great appendage'-like antennula. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 158 (3): 477–500.
- ↑ Morris S.C. & Peel J.S. 2008. The earliest annelids: lower Cambrian polychaetes from the Sirius Passet lagerstätte, Peary Land, North Greenland. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 53: 137. [2]