Stranded jellyfish in the lowermost Cambrian (Corduban) of Spain

Ninety discoid structures of big size occurring on a bedding plane of Nemakit-Daldynian to Tommotian sandstones (i.e. Corduban in the Spanish scale of Cambrian stages) from south-western Spain are described. Cross-cutting relationships between discoid structures and associated trace fossils, as well as evidence for penecontemporaneous deformation of sediment laminae below the discoids, permit to interprete these structures as impressions of ancient, soft-bodied marine organisms. Taphonomic, biometric, and morphological studies suggest that they are outer moulds of both sides, subumbrellar and exumbrellar, of ancient jellyfish of hydrozoan coelenterates, whose canals resemble the modern genu…

Carboniferous trace fossils from Vélez-Málaga (Maláguide Complex, Betic Cordillera, SE Spain).