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
- Sirius Passet in the Cambrian.png
Location of Sirius Passet during the early Cambrian
- Aaveqaspis inesoni.jpg
Reconstruction of the Lower Cambrian arthropod Aaveqaspis inesoni
- Arthroaspis.jpg
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.
- Buenaspis drawing.jpg
Drawing of a "Buenaspis fortey", Order Nectaspida, Family Liwiidae, a Lower Cambrian arthropod found at the Sirius Passet, North Greenland
Doi 10.5061 dryad.7jh0q S6
- Kleptothule rasmusseni.jpg
Reconstructions of various arthropods of the Sirius Passet Lagerstätten, including the aberrantly elongated trilobite
- Sidneyia inexpectans.png
Life restoration of Sidneyia inexpectans from the Burgess Shale to which the Sirius Passet form has been considered closely related
- M862361.tif
Thulaspis tholops (MGUH:34172a)
- Isoxys volucris.png
Reconstruction of Isoxys volucris of the Sirius Passet
- Kiisortoqia.png
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]