New probable cnidarian fossils from the lower Cambrian of the Three Gorges area, South China, and their ecological implications

Lower Cambrian assemblages of phosphatic and chitinous tubular fossils of probable cnidarian affinities were recovered from the Yanjiahe, Shuijingtuo and Shipai formations in the Three Gorges area, South China. Terreneuvian Cambrorhytium cf. C. major co-occur with an unnamed taxon in the Yanjiahe Formation. They can be compared with specimens from the Ediacaran Miaohe Fauna in the Three Gorges area. The most abundant and diversified cnidarian assemblages, including Cambrorhytium gracilis n. sp., Cambrorhytium cf. major, Cambrorhytium minor, Sphenothallus songlinensis, Sphenothallus taijiangensis?, Sphenothallus kozaki, ?Sphenothallus sp., ?Byronia sp., and ?Mackenzia sp. are reported from the overlying, Cambrian Stage 3-4, Shuijingtuo and Shipai formations. These new fossils show previously unknown evidence for cnidarian affinities, such as an attachment disk, clonal clusters and probable budding structures. These diversified assemblages of probable cnidarian fossils further fill major gaps in the Cambrian record of stem metazoans and document associated early evolutionary patterns. In addition, our discovery suggests that along with sponges, these tubular fossils represent another important component of benthic ecosystems that colonized often dysoxic, deep-settings during the Cambrian explosion. The observed increases of average body-size and biomineralization among these probable cnidarians are tentatively linked to oxygenation of deep oceanic settings and appearance of predatory pressure during the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition, respectively.