A bradoriid and brachiopod dominated shelly fauna from the Furongian (Cambrian) of Västergötland, Sweden

Abstract

A small assemblage of shelly fossils, dominated by the brachiopodTreptotreta jucundaand the bradoriid arthropodMongolitubulus aspermachaeranew species is described from a Furongian limestone of Västergötland, south-central Sweden.Mongolitubulus aspermachaerais represented in the assemblage by individual valves and numerous, ornamented spines. Valves and spines share identical ornament and microstructure leaving no doubt that the isolated spines were once attached to the bradoriid valves.Mongolitubulus aspermachaeraadds to the increasing list of spinose Cambrian bradoriid arthropods, and Mongolitubulidae new family is erected here to incorporate the generaMongolitubulus,TubuteriumandSpinospitella. Mongolitubulus aspermachaerarepresents the youngest member of the new family and supplements the biodiversity of bradoriids in the Furongian, an interval when bradoriid diversity is considered to be very much on the decline. The brachiopodTreptotreta jucundadescribed predominantly from the ‘middle' to ‘late' Cambrian of Australia is here documented for the first time from outside Gondwana, dramatically extending the biogeographical range of the species. Other elements of the faunal assemblage include typical Baltic Furongian representatives, such as the trilobiteParabolina, the agnostoidAgnostusand the phosphatocopidsHesslandonaandVestrogothia.