Small Carbonaceous Fossils (SCFs)
The fossil record is uniquely placed to answer questions of high theoretical importance to evolutionary biology since it provides the only direct evidence of past life forms. This record is however, heavily biased toward organisms with hard parts and those that inhabit the marine environment. This intrinsic bias leaves many important groups of organisms with little or no fossil representatives. Our record of soft-bodied organisms has previously relied on the patchy and rare snapshots afforded to palaeontologists by so called ‘Lagerstätten’, which are sites of exceptional preservation. Although such sites are unrivalled in the wealth of information they provide on ancient ecosystems, they are frustratingly sporadic in terms of geographic distribution and their position in geological time. Fortunately, there is another source of data that can yield abundant and exquisitely preserved fossils but until now has been largely overlooked, namely Small Carbonaceous Fossils. Such specimens have escaped the notice of many palaeontologists since they are too small to be directly observed on rock bedding planes, but too large and delicate to survive traditional microfossil preparation methods. This inadvertent preparation bias has, therefore, meant the potential of SCFs has remained largely untapped.
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Further Reading
Butterfield, N.J., Harvey, T.H.P., 2012. Small carbonaceous
fossils (SCFs): A new measure of early Paleozoic paleobiology. Geology 40, 71–74.
Caron, J.-B., Smith, M.R., Harvey, T.H.P., 2013. Beyond the Burgess Shale; Cambrian microfossils track the rise and fall of hallucigeniid lobopodians. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 280, 20131613.
Harvey, T.H.P., Pedder, B.E., 2013. Copepod mandible palynomorphs from the Nolichucky Shale (Cambrian, Tennessee): Implications for the taphonomy and recovery of small carbonaceous fossils. PALAIOS 28, 278–284.
Harvey, T.H.P., Vélez, M.I., Butterfield, N.J., 2012. Exceptionally preserved crustaceans from Western Canada reveal a cryptic Cambrian radiation. PNAS 109, 1589–1594.
Harvey, T.H.P., Vélez, M.I., Butterfield, N.J., 2012. Small carbonaceous fossils of the Earlie and Deadwood formations (middle Cambrian to lower Ordovician) of southern Saskatchewan; in summary of investigations 2012. Saskatchewan Geological Survey 1, 1–8.
Caron, J.-B., Smith, M.R., Harvey, T.H.P., 2013. Beyond the Burgess Shale; Cambrian microfossils track the rise and fall of hallucigeniid lobopodians. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 280, 20131613.
Harvey, T.H.P., Pedder, B.E., 2013. Copepod mandible palynomorphs from the Nolichucky Shale (Cambrian, Tennessee): Implications for the taphonomy and recovery of small carbonaceous fossils. PALAIOS 28, 278–284.
Harvey, T.H.P., Vélez, M.I., Butterfield, N.J., 2012. Exceptionally preserved crustaceans from Western Canada reveal a cryptic Cambrian radiation. PNAS 109, 1589–1594.
Harvey, T.H.P., Vélez, M.I., Butterfield, N.J., 2012. Small carbonaceous fossils of the Earlie and Deadwood formations (middle Cambrian to lower Ordovician) of southern Saskatchewan; in summary of investigations 2012. Saskatchewan Geological Survey 1, 1–8.