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A new type of entombment of Peronopsis (Agnostida) in a hyolithid conch

Publication at Faculty of Science |
2014

Abstract

An enrolled exoskeleton of the holaspid specimen of a tiny agnostid Peronopsis integra (BEY-RICH, 1845) entombed inside a conch of the hyolithid ?Buchavalites sp. is described from the middle Cambrian (Drumian) Jince Formation of the Příbram-Jince Basin (Czech Republic). The agnostid is associated with an ichnofossil of the feeding trace classified as Arachnostega-type behaviour.

The en-rolled attitude of the agnostid exoskeleton suggests that the specimen is a carcass rather than moult. Either the storm disturbance and/or well-protected source of food hypotheses could explain the en-tombed agnostid.

This additional example supports a benthic mode of life in the agnostid P. integra. The studied association of feeding tunnels of an unknown Arachnostega-strategist and Peronopsis pre-served inside a hyolithid conch is a case of "frozen" behaviour.