Cambrorhytium

Its name is from the Latin rhytium, drinking horn.

The fossil is conical, with iterated linear markings on its walls, parallel to its base. Its wall is thin, and it lacks the keel that is distinctive of hyoliths.

It has been interpreted as a cnidarian polyp, with the interpretation suggesting that the animal lived in the tube and extended tentacles (of which no trace has been found) from the flat aperture. This is supported by similarities to Palaeoconotuba.{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1111/pala.12636| title = Thecate stem medusozoans (Cnidaria) from the early Cambrian Chengjiang biota| year = 2023| last1 = Qu| first1 = Hanzhi| last2 = Li| first2 = Kexin| last3 = Ou| first3 = Qiang| journal = Palaeontology| volume = 66| issue = 1| page = 12636| bibcode = 2023Palgy..6612636Q| s2cid = 256562444| doi-access = free}} The other possible, but probably unlikely, affinity is with the hyoliths.

Its similarity with the Lower Cambrian species Torellelloides giganteum may indicate a close relationship. Cambrorhytium has also been compared to the fossil Archotuba{{cite journal | pages = 691–694 | publisher = Society for Sedimentary Geology | issn = 0883-1351 | year = 2007 | url = http://intl-palaios.geoscienceworld.org/content/22/6/691.full | journal = PALAIOS | volume = 22 | issue = 6 | doi = 10.2110/palo.2006.p06-117r | last1 = Han | last2 = Zhang | last3 = Liu | last4 = Shu | first1 = J. | first2 = Z. | first3 = J. | first4 = D. | title = Evidence of Priapulid Scavenging from the Early Cambrian Chengjiang Deposits, Southern China | bibcode = 2007Palai..22..691H | s2cid = 86584623 }}{{dead link|date=July 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} and Sphenothallus.{{Cite journal| last1 = Van Iten | first1 = H.| last2 = Zhu | first2 = M. Y.| last3 = Collins | first3 = D.| title = First Report of Sphenothallus Hall, 1847 in the Middle Cambrian| jstor = 1307202| journal = Journal of Paleontology| volume = 76| issue = 5| pages = 902–905| year = 2002| issn = 0022-3360| doi = 10.1666/0022-3360(2002)076<0902:FROSHI>2.0.CO;2| s2cid = 131018299}}

C. elongatum has been described to contain an alimentary canal in a single Chinese specimen.{{Cite journal| doi = 10.1016/j.palaeo.2003.06.001| title = Lower Cambrian Burgess Shale-type fossil associations of South China| year = 2005| last1 = Steiner | first1 = M.| last2 = Zhu | first2 = M.| last3 = Zhao | first3 = Y.| last4 = Erdtmann | first4 = B.| journal = Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology| volume = 220| issue = 1–2| pages = 129–152 | bibcode = 2005PPP...220..129S}}

C. major was originally described as a member of the hyolith genus Orthotheca.

C. fragilis was originally included by Charles D. Walcott in the genus Selkirkia, – a taxonomy that was retained by later workers{{Cite journal| last1 = Howell | first1 = B. F.| last2 = Stubblefield | first2 = C. J.| title = A Revision of the Fauna of the North Welsh Conocoryphe viola Beds implying a Lower Cambrian Age| journal = Geological Magazine| volume = 87| pages = 1–16| year = 2009| doi = 10.1017/S0016756800075506| s2cid = 129709736}} until finally questioned and redescribed as Cambrorhytium in the eighties.

{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite journal

|last1=Conway Morris

|first1=Simon

|first2=R.A.

|last2= Robison

|year=1988

|title=More soft-bodied animals and algae from the Middle Cambrian of Utah and British Columbia.

| url = https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/dspace/bitstream/1808/3691/3/paleo.paper.122op.pdf

| journal=University of Kansas Paleontological Contributions

|pages=1–48

|volume=122

}}

{{cite journal

|issue =1

|title=Conical fossils from the Lower Cambrian of Eastern California

|author1=Waggoner, Ben

|author2=Hagadorn, James W.

|year=2005

|journal=PaleoBios

|volume=25

}}

{{cite journal

| author1 = Walcott, C. D.

| title = Mount Stephen rocks and fossils

| journal = Canadian Alpine Journal

| volume = 1

| pages = 232–248

| year = 1908

}}

{{cite journal

| volume= 57

|author1=Walcott, C.D.

|title=Cambrian Geology and Paleontology II, no. 5. Middle Cambrian annelids

|journal=Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections

|pages=109–144

|year=1911}}

{{cite journal

|volume= 26

|author1=Walcott, C.D.

|title=Cambrian of the Kicking Horse Valley, B.C.

|journal=Geological Survey of Canada Report

|page=188

|year=1912}}

{{cite journal

| author1 = Conway Morris, S

| title = Fossil priapulid worms

| journal = Special Papers in Palaeontology

| volume = 20

| pages = 1–95

| year = 1977

}}

{{cite book

|chapter= Problematica from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale of British Columbia.

|author1= Briggs, D.E.G.

|author2= S. Conway Morris

|editor1=Hoffman, A.

|editor-first=M.H.

|editor2= Nitecki

|title=Problematic Fossil Taxa

|publisher=Oxford University Press

|place=New York

|year= 1986}}

}}

• {{cite web|url=https://burgess-shale.rom.on.ca/fossils/cambrorhytium-major/|title=Cambrorhytium major|website=Burgess Shale Fossil Gallery. Virtual Museum of Canada.|date=2011|access-date=2023-10-23|archive-date=2023-09-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230925130706/https://burgess-shale.rom.on.ca/fossils/cambrorhytium-major/|url-status=live}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q5025675}}

Category:Burgess Shale fossils

Category:Staurozoa

Category:Burgess Shale animals

Category:Prehistoric cnidarian genera

Category:Controversial taxa

Category:Fossil taxa described in 1908

Category:Cambrian genus extinctions

{{cambrian-animal-stub}}

{{paleo-staurozoa-stub}}