CAJ | 학술논문

Rhombocorniculum cancellatum from the Lower Cambrian of southern Shaanxi Province (South China) is represented by the dextral and sinistral tooth-like sclerites (both in nearly equal numbers), indicating that the body plan of the organism with these sclerites probably was bilaterian. The main feature of the microstructure of the sclerites is the presence of longitudinally arranged, mutually contiguous hollow tubules, the shared walls consisting of microcrystalline apatite. In transverse cross sections, the sclerite wall mainly exhibits a spongy structure, with pore size decreasing adapically. Functional morphological analysis indicates that the sclerites serve as a defensive rather than a grasping function.