An Early Cambrian stem polychaete with pygidial cirri

作者:Vinther Jakob; Eibye Jacobsen Danny*; Harper David A T
来源:Biology Letters, 2011, 7(6): 929-932.
DOI:10.1098/rsbl.2011.0592

摘要

The oldest annelid fossils are polychaetes from the Cambrian Period. They are representatives of the annelid stem group and thus vital in any discussion of how we polarize the evolution of the crown group. Here, we describe a fossil polychaete from the Early Cambrian Sirius Passet fauna, Pygocirrus butyricampum gen. et sp. nov., with structures identified as pygidial cirri, which are recorded for the first time from Cambrian annelids. The body is slender and has biramous parapodia with chaetae organized in laterally oriented bundles. The presence of pygidial cirri is one of the characters that hitherto has defined the annelid crown group, which diversified during the Cambrian-Ordovician transition. The newly described fossil shows that this character had already developed within the total group by the Early Cambrian.

  • 出版日期2011-12-23
  • 单位中国地质博物馆