Dear all, especially Kirk,
>>All,
>>>>I attended a very nice seminar today, given by
>>Dr. Paul Taylor (Natural History Museum,
>>London), suggesting that so-called spirorbid
>>tube fossils from the Devonian-Triassic might
>>actually have been produced by a
>>lophophorate. Based on tube structures, it
>>appears that spirorbids did not appear until
>>the Cretaceous, rather than extending back into
>>the Paleozoic. The paper upon which Paul's talk was based is:
>>>>Taylor, P.D. & O. Vinn. 2006. Convergent
>>morphology in small spiral worm tubes
>>('Spirorbis') and its palaeoenvironmental
>>implications. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 163: 225-228.
>>>>Best,
>>Kirk
Good to draw attention once more to a question
which has been around for a number of decades. In
my recollection, the discussion started during a
symposium in 1975 (G. Larwood & B.R. Rosen (eds),
1979.- Biology and systematics of colonial
organisms. Syst. Ass. Spec. Vol. 11, xxxv + 589
pp., ills.), where Burchette & Riding mentioned
the mass-occurrence of some strange "Serpula" and
"Spirorbids" from the Paleozoic and asked my
opinion on these forms (Burchette, T.P., & R.
Riding, 1977.- Attached vermiform gastropods in
carboniferous marginal marine stromatolites and
biostromes. Lethaia 10: 17-28, 8 figs.). I
touched upon it briefly in 1993, having
corresponded about the problem with Weedon for
some years. (Hove, H.A. ten, & P. van den Hurk,
1993.- A review of Recent and fossil serpulid
"reefs"; actuopaleontology and the 'Upper Malm'
serpulid limestones in NW Germany. Geol. Mijnbouw
72: 23-67, 12 figs, 5 tabs.; Weedon, M.J., 1994.-
Tube microstructure of Recent and Jurassic
serpulid polychaetes and the question of the
Palaeozoic "spirorbids". Acta Palaeontologica
Polonica 39 (1): 1-15). The "phylial" affiliation
remained questionable, and apparently there is
some new light on that now. Must shamefully admit
that I missed the lophoporate connection in scanning Taylor & Vinn.
Indeed the earliest reliable serpulid
identifications as far as I know are from the
Jurassic, and I would not be too surprised if the
spirorbids appeared in the Cretaceous only,
although the most recent phylogenies confirm that
spirorbids are an ingroup of Serpulidae (e.g.
E.K. Kupriyanova et al, 2006.- Phylogenetic
relationships within Serpulidae (Sabellida,
Annelida) inferred from molecular and
morphological data. Zoologica Scripta, 35, 5,
September 2006, pp.421–439), making a Jurassic
age of spirorbid forms not unlikely.
By the way, more on tube ultrastructure of worms,
especially serpulids, is in the making.
wormly,
dr. Harry A. ten Hove
Zoological Museum
University of Amsterdam
Mauritskade 57
P.O.B. 94766, 1090 GT Amsterdam
the Netherlands
hove At science.uva.nl
