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Articulated Wiwaxia from the Cambrian Stage 3 Xiaoshiba Lagerstätte

Yang, J.; Smith, M.R.; Lan, T.; Hou, J.-B.; Zhang, X.-G.

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Authors

J. Yang

T. Lan

J.-B. Hou

X.-G. Zhang



Abstract

Wiwaxia is a bizarre metazoan that has been interpreted as a primitive mollusc and as a polychaete annelid worm. Extensive material from the Burgess Shale provides a detailed picture of its morphology and ontogeny, but the fossil record outside this lagerstätte is scarce, and complete wiwaxiids are particularly rare. Here we report small articulated specimens of Wiwaxia foliosa sp. nov. from the Xiaoshiba fauna (Cambrian Stage 3, Hongjingshao Formation, Kunming, south China). Although spines are absent, the fossils' sclerites – like those of W. corrugata – are symmetrically arranged in five distinct zones. They form rows across the body, and were individually added and shed throughout growth to retain an approximately symmetrical body shape. Their development pattern suggests a molluscan affinity. The basic body plan of wiwaxiids is fundamentally conserved across two continents through Cambrian Stages 3–5 – revealing morphological stasis in the wake of the Cambrian explosion.

Citation

Yang, J., Smith, M., Lan, T., Hou, J., & Zhang, X. (2014). Articulated Wiwaxia from the Cambrian Stage 3 Xiaoshiba Lagerstätte. Scientific Reports, 4, Article 4643. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep04643

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Mar 21, 2014
Online Publication Date Apr 10, 2014
Publication Date Apr 10, 2014
Deposit Date Oct 6, 2015
Publicly Available Date Nov 17, 2015
Journal Scientific Reports
Publisher Nature Research
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 4
Article Number 4643
DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/srep04643

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. The images in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the image credit; if the image is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder in order to reproduce the image. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/




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