Chemical signatures of soft tissues distinguish between vertebrates and invertebrates from the Carboniferous Mazon Creek Lagerstätte of Illinois
Corresponding Author
Victoria E. McCoy
Department of Geosciences, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, USA
Institute of Geosciences, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
Correspondence
Victoria E. McCoy, Department of Geosciences, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
Email: mccoyv@uwm.edu
Jasmina Wiemann, Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, 210 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
Email: jasmina.wiemann@yale.edu
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Jasmina Wiemann
Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
Correspondence
Victoria E. McCoy, Department of Geosciences, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
Email: mccoyv@uwm.edu
Jasmina Wiemann, Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, 210 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
Email: jasmina.wiemann@yale.edu
Search for more papers by this authorJames C. Lamsdell
Department of Geology and Geography, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA
Search for more papers by this authorChristopher D. Whalen
Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
Search for more papers by this authorScott Lidgard
Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL, USA
Search for more papers by this authorHolger Petermann
Department of Earth Sciences, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Colorado Boulevard, Denver, CO, USA
Search for more papers by this authorDerek E. G. Briggs
Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, New Haven, CT, USA
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Victoria E. McCoy
Department of Geosciences, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, USA
Institute of Geosciences, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
Correspondence
Victoria E. McCoy, Department of Geosciences, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
Email: mccoyv@uwm.edu
Jasmina Wiemann, Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, 210 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
Email: jasmina.wiemann@yale.edu
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Jasmina Wiemann
Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
Correspondence
Victoria E. McCoy, Department of Geosciences, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
Email: mccoyv@uwm.edu
Jasmina Wiemann, Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, 210 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
Email: jasmina.wiemann@yale.edu
Search for more papers by this authorJames C. Lamsdell
Department of Geology and Geography, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA
Search for more papers by this authorChristopher D. Whalen
Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
Search for more papers by this authorScott Lidgard
Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL, USA
Search for more papers by this authorHolger Petermann
Department of Earth Sciences, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Colorado Boulevard, Denver, CO, USA
Search for more papers by this authorDerek E. G. Briggs
Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, New Haven, CT, USA
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
The chemical composition of fossil soft tissues is a potentially powerful and yet underutilized tool for elucidating the affinity of problematic fossil organisms. In some cases, it has proven difficult to assign a problematic fossil even to the invertebrates or vertebrates (more generally chordates) based on often incompletely preserved morphology alone, and chemical composition may help to resolve such questions. Here, we use in situ Raman microspectroscopy to investigate the chemistry of a diverse array of invertebrate and vertebrate fossils from the Pennsylvanian Mazon Creek Lagerstätte of Illinois, and we generate a ChemoSpace through principal component analysis (PCA) of the in situ Raman spectra. Invertebrate soft tissues characterized by chitin (polysaccharide) fossilization products and vertebrate soft tissues characterized by protein fossilization products plot in completely separate, non-overlapping regions of the ChemoSpace, demonstrating the utility of certain soft tissue molecular signatures as biomarkers for the original soft tissue composition of fossil organisms. The controversial problematicum Tullimonstrum, known as the Tully Monster, groups with the vertebrates, providing strong evidence of a vertebrate rather than invertebrate affinity.
Supporting Information
| Filename | Description |
|---|---|
| gbi12397-sup-0001-Supinfo.pdfPDF document, 341.2 KB | Supplementary Material |
| gbi12397-sup-0002-DataS1.xlsxapplication/excel, 2.2 MB | Data S1 |
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