Conulariida

The conulariids are fossils preserved as shell-like structures made up of rows of calcium phosphate rods, resembling an ice-cream cone with fourfold symmetry, usually four prominently-grooved corners.Waggoner, B.M. & D. Smith (1994): The Conulariida, Mystery fossils. University of California Museum of Paleontology web page [http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/cnidaria/conulariida.html] New rods were added as the organism grew in length; the rod-based growth falsely gives the fossils a segmented appearance. Exceptional soft-part preservation has revealed that soft tentacles protruded from the wider end of the cone, and a holdfast from the pointed end attached the organisms to hard substrate. The prevailing reconstruction of the organism has it look superficially like a sea anemone sitting inside an angular, hard cone held perpendicular to the substrate. Conulariid shell is composed of francolite with carbonate ion concentration 8.1 wt%. The lattice parameters of conulariid apatite are a = 9.315(7) Å,

c = 6.888(3) Å.{{cite journal

| doi = 10.4202/app.00049.2013

| title = Alleged cnidarian Sphenothallus in the Late Ordovician of Baltica, its mineral composition and microstructure

| year = 2015

| author = Vinn, O.

| author2 = Kirsimäe, K.

| journal = Acta Palaeontologica Polonica

| volume = 60

| pages = 1001–1008

| doi-access = free}} The fine structure of their shell comprises multiple lamellae of alternately organic-rich and organic-poor layers.{{cite journal|doi=10.1017/jpa.2016.63|title=Microstructure and composition of the periderm of conulariids|journal=Journal of Paleontology|volume=90|issue=3|pages=389|year=2016|last1=Ford|first1=Robert C.|last2=Van Iten|first2=Heyo|last3=Clark|first3=George R.|s2cid=133541791}}

Image:Conulariid01.jpg

Image:Conularia milwaukeensis.jpg from the Middle Devonian of Wisconsin.|left]]

File:UWGM 2723---Conularia niagarensis.jpg specimens from the Lower Silurian Waukesha Biota site in Wisconsin.]]

With the inclusion of the possible Ediacaran conulariid Vendoconularia, which may or may not be a conulariid at all,{{Cite journal| last1 = Van Iten| last4= Guimaraes Simoes | first1 = H.| last3=Coelho Rodrigues| last2=De Moraes Leme| first2 = J. | first3 = S. | first4 = M.| title = Reinterpretation of a Conulariid-Like Fossil from the Vendian of Russia| journal = Palaeontology| volume = 48| issue = 3| pages = 619–622| year = 2005| doi = 10.1111/j.1475-4983.2005.00471.x| hdl= 11449/31655 | s2cid= 247733826 | hdl-access = free}} and the definite late Ediacaran conulariid Paraconularia ediacara, the Conulata fossil record begins with undeniable specimens in the Upper Ediacaran and extends without significant break through numerous major mass extinctions. The Conulariids finally disappear from the fossil record during the Late Triassic, by which time they were very rare, with only 8 documented occurrences across the entire Triassic. Their extinction may have been due to the rise of durophagous organisms as part of the Mesozoic marine revolution.{{Cite journal |last=Lucas |first=Spencer G. |date=2012-03-22 |title=The Extinction of the Conulariids |journal=Geosciences |language=en |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=1–10 |doi=10.3390/geosciences2010001 |issn=2076-3263 |doi-access=free }}

In North America, conulariids are generally more common in rocks of Ordovician and Carboniferous age.

File:Estonian Museum of Natural History - Conularia.png

Conulariids were benthic animals that were sessile and attached to a substrate at the base of the theca, older individuals may have become recumbent (tipped over).{{Citation |last1=Iten |first1=Heyo Van |title=14. Conulariids |date=2004-12-31 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.7312/webb12678-015/html |work=The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event |pages=119–123 |editor-last=Webby |editor-first=Barry D. |access-date=2023-06-25 |publisher=Columbia University Press |doi=10.7312/webb12678-015 |isbn=978-0-231-12678-6 |last2=Vyhlasová |first2=Zdenka |editor2-last=Paris |editor2-first=Florentin |editor3-last=Droser |editor3-first=Mary L. |editor4-last=Percival |editor4-first=Ian G.}} They are generally proposed to have been predators, using tentacles to ensnare prey.{{Cite journal |last1=Leme |first1=Juliana M. |last2=Van Iten |first2=Heyo |last3=Simões |first3=Marcello G. |date=2022-06-08 |title=A New Conulariid (Cnidaria, Scyphozoa) From the Terminal Ediacaran of Brazil |journal=Frontiers in Earth Science |volume=10 |doi=10.3389/feart.2022.777746 |bibcode=2022FrEaS..10.7746L |issn=2296-6463 |doi-access=free }}

About 20 genera and 150 species are known,{{cite web |url=http://www.zoobank.org/advancedquery.htm?searchType=tree&pp=10&so=a0&q=Conulariida |title=ZooBank: The World Register of Animal Names |website=www.zoobank.org |access-date=14 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927222951/http://www.zoobank.org/advancedquery.htm?searchType=tree&pp=10&so=a0&q=Conulariida |archive-date=27 September 2007 |url-status=dead}} but except for local occurrences, Conulariids are relatively uncommon.

The conulariids were originally thought to be anthozoan cnidarians. However, the lack of septa or other features diagnostic of anthozoans led researchers to abandon this hypothesis. Ivantsov and Fedonkin (2002) posit that the conulariids were ancestrally tri-radially symmetrical, as typified with Vendoconularia, typical of the structure seen in Vendozooans.{{Cite journal| first1 = A. Y.| last2 = Fedonkin| first2 = M. A.| last1 = Ivantsov| title = Conulariid-like fossil from the Vendian of Russia: a metazoan clade across the Proterozoic/Palaeozoic boundary| journal = Palaeontology| volume = 45| issue = 6| pages = 1119–1129| year = 2002| doi = 10.1111/1475-4983.00283| doi-access = free}} Conulariids are, however, technically a part of the Ediacaran biota as their fossil record starts at latest parts of that period.

It is now also thought that the conulate trilobozoans derived their fourfold symmetry from a sixfold symmetry, as seen in Vendoconularia. This in turn, is thought to be originally derived from an ancestral disk-like trilobozoan three-fold symmetry.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}

Conulariids have generally been thought to be of Cnidarian affinity, occupying a position near the base of the Cnidarian family tree. However, since the 2010s, authors consider conulariids to be members of the subclade Medusozoa, though their exact placement within the clade is uncertain.

Conulariids produced pearls within their shells, similar to the way molluscs such as oysters, other bivalves, and some gastropods do today. These pearls give a clue as to the internal anatomy of the conulariid animal. But due to their calcium phosphate composition, their crystal structure, and their extreme age, these pearls tend to be rather unattractive for use in or as decorative objects.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wFPgBAAAQBAJ&q=Conulariid+pearls | title=Evolutionary Paleobiology of Behavior and Coevolution | publisher=Elsevier | author=Boucot, A.J. | year=2013 | pages=750 (page 69) | isbn=9781483290812}}

{{div col|colwidth=24em}}

• Aciconularia
• Adesmoconularia
• Anaconularia
• Archaeoconularia
• Australoconularia
• Barbigodithreca
• Calloconularia
• Circonularia
• Climacoconus
• Conchopeltis
• Conomedusites?
• Conulariella
• Conularia
• Conularina
• Conulariopsis
• Ctenoconularia
• Diconularia
• Eoconularia
• Exoconularia
• Flectoconularia
• Garraconularia
• Glyptoconularia
• Gondaconularia
• Hexangulaconularia
• Holoconularia
• Mabianoconullus
• Mesoconularia
• Metaconularia
• Neoconularia
• Notoconularia
• Palaenigma
• Paraconularia
• Pseudoconularia
• Quadrosiphogonuchites
• Reticulaconularia
• Tasmanoconularia
• Vendoconularia

{{Div col end}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite journal|last1=Babcock |first1=L. E. |author2=Feldmann, R. М. |year=1986 |title=Devonian and Mississippian conulariids of North America. Part A. General description and Conularia |journal=Annals of Carnegie Museum |volume=55 |pages=349–410 |doi=10.5962/p.215203 |s2cid=251529155 |doi-access=free}}
• {{cite book |last=Babcock |first=L. E. |year=1991 |chapter=The enigma of conulariid affinities |pages=133–143 |editor1=A. M. Simonetta |editor2=S. Conway Morris |editor2-link=Simon Conway Morris |title=The Early Evolution of Metazoa and the Significance of Problematic Taxa |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge}}
• {{cite journal |author=Hughes, N. C. |author2=Gunderson, G. D. |author3=Weedon, M. J. |year=2000 |title=Late Cambrian conulariids from Wisconsin and Minnesota |journal=Journal of Paleontology |volume=74 |issue=5 |pages=828–838 |doi=10.1666/0022-3360(2000)074<0828:lccfwa>2.0.co;2 |s2cid=130269674 }}
• {{cite book |last=Van Iten |first=H. |year=1991|chapter=Evolutionary affinities of conulariids |pages=145–155 |editor1=A. M. Simonetta |editor2=S. Conway Morris |title=The Early Evolution of Metazoa and the Significance of Problematic Taxa |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge}}

• {{Cite web|url=http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/cnidaria/conulariida.html|title=The Conulariida: Mystery fossils|author1=Zdenka Brabcova |author2=Petr Kraft |date= 2003-06-15|accessdate=2008-02-04}}
• http://www.uga.edu/strata/cincy/fauna/conulariida/Conularia.html

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Category:Staurozoa

Category:Prehistoric cnidarians

Category:Early Triassic extinctions

Category:Cambrian genus extinctions

Category:Ediacaran first appearances