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Orthrozanclus elongata n. sp. and the significance of sclerite-covered taxa for early trochozoan evolution

Zhao, Fangchen; Smith, Martin R.; Yin, Zongjun; Zeng, Han; Li, Guoxiang; Zhu, Maoyan

Orthrozanclus elongata n. sp. and the significance of sclerite-covered taxa for early trochozoan evolution Thumbnail


Authors

Fangchen Zhao

Zongjun Yin

Han Zeng

Guoxiang Li

Maoyan Zhu



Abstract

Orthrozanclus is a shell-bearing, sclerite covered Cambrian organism of uncertain taxonomic affinity, seemingly representing an intermediate between its fellow problematica Wiwaxia and Halkieria. Attempts to group these slug-like taxa into a single ‘halwaxiid’ clade nevertheless present structural and evolutionary difficulties. Here we report a new species of Orthrozanclus from the early Cambrian Chengjiang Lagerstätte. The scleritome arrangement and constitution in this material corroborates the link between Orthrozanclus and Halkieria, but not with Wiwaxia — and calls into question its purported relationship with molluscs. Instead, the tripartite construction of the halkieriid scleritome finds a more compelling parallel in the camenellan tommotiids, relatives of the brachiopods and phoronids. Such a phylogenetic position would indicate the presence of a scleritome in the common ancestor of the three major trochozoan lineages, Mollusca, Annelida and Brachiozoa. On this view, the absence of fossil Ediacaran sclerites is evidence against any ‘Precambrian prelude’ to the explosive diversification of these phyla in the Cambrian, c. 540–530 million years ago.

Citation

Zhao, F., Smith, M. R., Yin, Z., Zeng, H., Li, G., & Zhu, M. (2017). Orthrozanclus elongata n. sp. and the significance of sclerite-covered taxa for early trochozoan evolution. Scientific Reports, 7, Article 16232. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-16304-6

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Nov 7, 2017
Online Publication Date Nov 24, 2017
Publication Date Nov 24, 2017
Deposit Date Nov 8, 2017
Publicly Available Date Nov 9, 2017
Journal Scientific Reports
Publisher Nature Research
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 7
Article Number 16232
DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-16304-6

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Open Access 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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