Three‐dimensional preservation of arthropod integument from the Middle Cambrian of Australia

摘要

Three‐dimensional preservation of arthropod soft integument occurs in Middle Cambrian sediments of the Georgina Basin, western Queensland, Australia. The beds are referred to the Monastery Creek Phosphorite Formation, Gowers Formation, Inca Shale Formation and Devon‐court Limestone Formation. The finds include arthropod type‐A larvae previously described by Müller&Walossek and several complete appendages, possibly of early Palaeozoic ‘ostracodes’, as well as indeterminable cuticular remains. The Australian sediments were in part deposited under high water‐energy conditions, whereas previously known occurrences of three‐dimensional soft‐integument preservation have been from environments of lower water energy. Such preservation may thus be more widespread in the Early Paleozoic than hitherto known. □Phosphatization, arthropods, type‐A larvae, appendages, Middle Cambrian, Geogina Basin, Australia, three‐di