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Articulated Wiwaxia from the Cambrian Stage 3 Xiaoshiba Lagerstätte
Yang, J.; Smith, M.R.; Lan, T.; Hou, J.; Zhang, X. (2014). Articulated Wiwaxia from the Cambrian Stage 3 Xiaoshiba Lagerstätte. NPG Scientific Reports 4(4643): 5 pp. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep04643
In: Scientific Reports (Nature Publishing Group). Nature Publishing Group: London. ISSN 2045-2322; e-ISSN 2045-2322, more
Peer reviewed article  

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Keyword
    Marine/Coastal

Authors  Top 
  • Yang, J.
  • Smith, M.R.
  • Lan, T.
  • Hou, J.
  • Zhang, X.

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.

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