SGER: Primitive Cambrian Echinoderms of the Kaili Fauna from Taijaing County, Guizhou Province, Peoples Republic of China

Tulane University, New Orleans LA

Investigators

Abstract

PI will spend a month (August, 2002) in China studying primitive Middle Cambrian echinoderms from the Kaili Fauna at the Guizhou University of Technology in Guiyang as well as at the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology in Nanjing. There are very good possibilities that primary symmetry in echinoderms (based on the symmetry of the ambulacral system), early evolutionary development of columnar structures and their holdfasts can be deduced from some of the material. Most specimens are preserved as molds and extensive latex casting will be an important part of the data gathering. At present there is good evidence that the sediments associated with the fossils are not extensively bioturbated, which makes the mode/mechanism of attachment to the bottom very important: it will be extensively investigated. Study of this material may well open up a whole new understanding of the early evolution of this important biotic group and the collections are available at this time for joint investigation with Chinese colleagues.