A stem group echinoderm from the basal Cambrian of China and the origins of Ambulacraria

Timothy P. Topper; Junfeng Guo; Sébastien Clausen; Christian B. Skovsted; Zhifei Zhang

doi:10.1038/s41467-019-09059-3

Nature Communications (Mar 2019)

A stem group echinoderm from the basal Cambrian of China and the origins of Ambulacraria

Timothy P. Topper,
Junfeng Guo,
Sébastien Clausen,
Christian B. Skovsted,
Zhifei Zhang

Affiliations

Timothy P. Topper: Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Early Life and Environments, State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics and Department of Geology, Northwest University
Junfeng Guo: School of Earth Science and Resources, Key Laboratory for the study of Focused Magmatism and Giant Ore Deposits, MLR, Chang’an University
Sébastien Clausen: Univ. Lille, CNRS, UMR 8198 – Evo-Eco-Paleo
Christian B. Skovsted: Department of Palaeobiology, Swedish Museum of Natural History
Zhifei Zhang: Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Early Life and Environments, State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics and Department of Geology, Northwest University

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-09059-3
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 10, no. 1
pp. 1 – 8

Abstract

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The early evolution of the deuterostomes is not well resolved. Here, Topper and colleagues investigate the early Cambrian metazoan Yanjiahella biscarpa, concluding that it is a stem echinoderm, is among the oldest known deuterstomes, and supports an ancestral enteropneust body plan in hemichordates.

Published in Nature Communications

ISSN: 2041-1723 (Online)
Publisher: Nature Portfolio
Country of publisher: United Kingdom
LCC subjects: Science
Website: https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

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