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Waputikia ramosa





3D animation of Waputikia ramosa.
ANIMATION BY PHLESCH BUBBLE © ROYAL ONTARIO MUSEUM
3D model of Waputikia ramosa.
ANIMATION BY PHLESCH BUBBLE © ROYAL ONTARIO MUSEUM
Waputikia ramosa (ROM 61105). Isolated branch. Specimen length = 50 mm. Specimen dry – polarized light. Walcott Quarry talus.
© ROYAL ONTARIO MUSEUM. PHOTO: JEAN-BERNARD CARON
Waputikia ramosa (ROM 61114). Fragment of a stem with fine terminal bush-like branches. Specimen length = 21 mm. Specimen dry – polarized light. Walcott Quarry talus.
© ROYAL ONTARIO MUSEUM. PHOTO: JEAN-BERNARD CARON
Waputikia ramosa (USNM 35409) – Syntype. Typical specimen showing wide stem and fine terminal bush-like branches. Specimen length = 50 mm. Specimen dry – polarized light (left), wet – polarized light (right). Walcott Quarry.
© SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION – NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. PHOTOS: JEAN-BERNARD CARON
Taxonomy:
No revisions of this alga have been published since its original description by Walcott (1919) and its affinities remain uncertain.
Waputikia – from the Waputik Icefield, a glacier in Yoho National Park, east of the Burgess Shale.
ramosa – from the Latin ramosus, “full of branches,” in reference to the presence of clumps of branches.
Burgess Shale and vicinity: none.
Other deposits: none.
Age & Localities:
The Walcott Quarry on Fossil Ridge.
History of Research:
This genus was described by Charles Walcott (1919) as a possible red alga. However, like all the algae from the Burgess Shale, it awaits a modern redescription.
Description:
Waputikia has a large central stem with wide branches at irregular intervals. The large branches divide dichotomously (into two), and the smaller tertiary or quaternary branches divide into much finer branches forming small terminal bush-like structures.
Waputikia is very rare and represents only 0.02% of the Walcott Quarry community (Caron and Jackson, 2008).
Ecology:
No attachment structure for this alga has been preserved but it probably lived attached to the sea floor.
References:
CARON, J.-B. AND D. A. JACKSON. 2008. Paleoecology of the Greater Phyllopod Bed community, Burgess Shale. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 258: 222-256.
WALCOTT, C. 1919. Cambrian Geology and Paleontology IV. Middle Cambrian Algae. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 67(5): 217-260.
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