Nature 414, 419 - 424 (2001)
© Macmillan Publishers Ltd.
D.-G. SHU*, S. CONWAY MORRIS,
J. HAN*, L. CHEN*, X.-L. ZHANG*, Z.-F. ZHANG*, H.-Q. LIU*, Y. LI*
& J.-N. LIU*
* Early Life Institute and
Department of Geology, Northwest University, Xi'an, China
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing
Street, Cambridge CB2 3EQ, UK
Correspondence and requests
for materials should be addressed to D.-G.S. (e-mail: dgshu@sein.sxgb.com.cn).
Cambrian fossil-Lagerstätten
(sites of exceptional fossil preservation), such as those from Chengjiang
(Lower Cambrian) and the Burgess Shale (Middle Cambrian), provide
our best window into the Cambrian 'explosion'. Such faunas are known
from about 40 localities, and have yielded a widely disparate series
of taxa ranging from ctenophores to agnathan fish.
Recent excavations
of the Chengjiang fossil-Lagerstätte, known from a series of
sites near Kunming in Yunnan, south China, have resulted in the
discovery of several new forms. In conjunction with material described
earlier, these provide evidence for a new group of metazoans, the
vetulicolians. Several features, notably a series of gill slits,
suggest that this group can throw light on an early stage of deuterostome
diversification.
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