Kaili Formation

The Kaili Formation, ranging from the late Lower Cambrian to early Middle Cambrian, contains an early Middle Cambrian Konservat Lagerstätte with many well-preserved fossils known collectively as the Kaili Biota. Named for nearby city of Kaili in the Guizhou province of southwest China, the Kaili formation is more than 200 meters thick with boundaries dated from the early to the early-middle Cambrian (513 to 501 million years ago). This age places it between the two most important and famous Cambrian Lagerstätten: the Burgess Shale and the Maotianshan Shale (containing the Chengjiang Biota).

Fossils

The faunal assemblage is highly diverse, comprising some 110 genera among 11 phyla; of these, some 40 genera are also found in the Burgess Shale, and some 30 are also found in the Maotianshan Shale. Trilobites and eocrinoids with hard parts that are easily preserved are the most common fossils, but many animals with only soft tissues are also preserved. For example, an arthropod similar to the Ediacaran biota "Parvancorina" of the Neoproterozoic age Ediacara Hills of South Australia has been found at the Kaili site.cite journal
author = Lin, J.P.
coauthors = Gon, S.M.; Gehling, J.G.; Babcock, L.E.; Zhao, Y.L.; Zhang, X.L.; Hu, S.X.; Yuan, J.L.; Yu, M.Y.; Peng, J.
year = 2006
title = A Parvancorina-like arthropod from the Cambrian of South China
journal = Historical Biology
volume = 18
issue = 1
pages = 33–45
doi = 10.1080/08912960500508689] Some other notable fossils discovered at Kaili are putative invertebrate eggs and embryos (Lin, et al., 2006), naraoiids, chancellorids, and Marrella.

References

* Lin, J. et al., (2006) Silicified egg clusters from a Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale–type deposit, Guizhou, south China. Geology 34(12) 1037-1040.