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

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

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


Authors

Timothy P. Topper

Junfeng Guo

Sébastien Clausen

Christian B. Skovsted

Zhifei Zhang



Abstract

Deuterostomes are a morphologically disparate clade, encompassing the chordates (including vertebrates), the hemichordates (the vermiform enteropneusts and the colonial tube-dwelling pterobranchs) and the echinoderms (including starfish). Although deuterostomes are considered monophyletic, the inter-relationships between the three clades remain highly contentious. Here we report, Yanjiahella biscarpa, a bilaterally symmetrical, solitary metazoan from the early Cambrian (Fortunian) of China with a characteristic echinoderm-like plated theca, a muscular stalk reminiscent of the hemichordates and a pair of feeding appendages. Our phylogenetic analysis indicates that Y. biscarpa is a stem-echinoderm and not only is this species the oldest and most basal echinoderm, but it also predates all known hemichordates, and is among the earliest deuterostomes. This taxon confirms that echinoderms acquired plating before pentaradial symmetry and that their history is rooted in bilateral forms. Yanjiahella biscarpa shares morphological similarities with both enteropneusts and echinoderms, indicating that the enteropneust body plan is ancestral within hemichordates.

Citation

Topper, T. P., Guo, J., Clausen, S., Skovsted, C. B., & Zhang, Z. (2019). A stem group echinoderm from the basal Cambrian of China and the origins of Ambulacraria. Nature Communications, 10(1), Article 1366. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-09059-3

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Feb 15, 2019
Online Publication Date Mar 25, 2019
Publication Date Mar 25, 2019
Deposit Date Apr 10, 2019
Publicly Available Date Apr 10, 2019
Journal Nature Communications
Electronic ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher Nature Research
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 10
Issue 1
Article Number 1366
DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-09059-3
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1299029

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http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.





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