Ocruranus, Liu, 1979

Skovsted, Christian B. & Peel, John S., 2007, Small shelly fossils from the argillaceous facies of the Lower Cambrian Forteau Formation of western Newfoundland, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 52 (4), pp. 729-748 : 736

Ocruranus ? sp.

Fig. 4F.

Type species: Ocruranus filial Liu, 1979 .

Material.—NFM−687 from sample JSP1982−01.

Description.—The smooth internal mould is tall and rapidly expanding, coiled through about 90 °. In lateral view the supra−apical surface is convex and the sub−apical surface is concave, with both surfaces of approximately equal length. Apex of the 1.7 mm long specimen is situated posterior of mid−length and is slightly overhanging. The aperture is not preserved, but the specimen is moderately compressed laterally.

Discussion.—This single specimen resembles the problematic mollusc Ocruranus from the Lower Cambrian of China and Greenland. The long sub−apical surface is similar to that of O. trulliformis ( Jiang, 1980) from China (see Qian and Bengtson 1989: fig. 69) and O. tunuensis Peel and Skovsted, 2005 from North−East Greenland, but the Newfoundland specimen is more compressed laterally than either of these species. The specimen also show similarities to the helcionelloid Hispanoconus cordobaensis Gubanov, Fernández Remolar, and Peel, 2004 from the Lower Cambrian of Spain. However, that mollusc has a teardrop−shaped cross−section and lacks an overhanging apex.