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Wednesday, 15 October 2014

Vetulicola.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maotianshan_Shales

At present, there is no agreement as to the systematic placement of the Vetulicola, represented by seven species from Chengjiang: originally described as crustacean arthropods, the Vetulicola were later erected as a new phylum of primitive deuterostomes by D.G. Shu et al. (Shu 2001). Another researcher places them with the urochordates, based on putative affinity with the Phylum Chordata. They are thought to have been swimmers that either were filter feeders or detritivores.

Some two dozen animals from the Chengjiang biota are problematic regarding phylogenetic assignment. Among these, Anomalocaris saron, the alleged predatory terror of the early Cambrian, is the most famous. Shu (2006) recently described Stromatoveris psygmoglena as a possible bilateran missing link between Ediacaran fronds and Cambrian ctenophores.

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