AN OSTRACODE WITH SOFT PARTS FROM THE SILURIAN HEREFORDSHIRE KONSERVAT-LAGERSTÄTTE

Three-dimensional preservation of non-biomineralized fossils occurs in carbonate concretions in a volcaniclastic deposit in the Wenlock Series, lower Silurian of Herefordshire, England. This Konservat-Lagerstätte has yielded, amongst other exceptionally preserved fossils, an ostracode showing remarkably detailed soft-part anatomy, which provides unequivocal evidence for the occurrence of Ostracoda in the Paleozoic and the antiquity of vital (e.g. respiratory/circulatory) systems within the group. The ostracode lived in the fully marine waters of the outer shelf to shelf slope and was possibly a nektobenthic scavenger/predator.