tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5460788270738656369.post4150205294325602397..comments2023-12-24T07:02:43.274+08:00Comments on Catalogue of Organisms: Serpularia: A Rightly Forgotten ProblematicumChristopher Taylorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11075565866351612441noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5460788270738656369.post-19695361424651419042015-08-16T15:17:08.256+08:002015-08-16T15:17:08.256+08:00I wouldn't think there would be any inherent r...I wouldn't think there would be any inherent reason that it couldn't be a mollusc, though again that would require close examination (though I'm guessing that Münster's figures would represent a piece of each fossil type rather than an entire specimen). Münster seems to have ruled out molluscs because he thought the furrows on the <i>Serpularia</i> fossils indicated a segmented animal but I wouldn't think that the only possible interpretation. They may be simple ornamentation, for instance, or they may represent growth lines. Also, I don't see any <i>a priori</i> reason to assume that the two 'species' necessarily come from the same sort of animal as each other.<br /><br />Münster's <i>Serpularia</i> would be probably be too early to be specifically either a scaphopod or caecid, though. Caecids only have a <a href="http://fossilworks.org/bridge.pl?a=taxonInfo&taxon_no=59441" rel="nofollow">fossil record</a> going back to the Eocene. Scaphopods probably appeared in the Devonian or Carboniferous, depending on how one interprets some very early fossils.<br /><br />I should also note that molluscs have inspired comparable biases to what I described in the post about annelids. Because most living shelly animals are molluscs, there has been a bit of a tendency to assume that any shell comes from a mollusc. This has resulted in mollusc affinities being assumed for Palaeozoic groups such as tentaculitids that recent authors suspect probably sit elsewhere in the animal family tree.Christopher Taylorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11075565866351612441noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5460788270738656369.post-91138493781446205492015-08-15T23:41:55.745+08:002015-08-15T23:41:55.745+08:00The drawings immediately bring to mind mollusks fo...The drawings immediately bring to mind mollusks for me, especially scaphopods or caecid gastropods. Is there any chance "<i>Serpularia</i>" could be molluscan in nature?Christopher A. Gleasonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17106029311929979424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5460788270738656369.post-43320660490457775832015-08-15T15:04:15.211+08:002015-08-15T15:04:15.211+08:00If you intend to make a series on Palaeozoic probl...If you intend to make a series on Palaeozoic problematica, I nominate <i>Typhloesus wellsi</i> for an entry.Andreas Johanssonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08802392912541974977noreply@blogger.com