Abstract
The origin and early evolution of lophotrochozoans remain a difficult but crucial issue in reconstructing metazoan phylogeny. Exceptionally preserved fossils have provided hopeful information for resolving this lophotrochozoan problem. Here we identify that Conicula striata, a soft-bodied conical animal from the early Cambrian Chengjiang Lagerstätte, has mosaic characteristics of different lophophorate phyla. C. striata possesses a phoronid-like vermiform trunk housing a U-shaped gut and a coiled lophophore comprising ≥12 arms with numerous tentacles, but it also bears brachiopod-like features including an undivided mantle enclosing lophophore and a pedicle-like protrusion on annulated trunk. Phylogenetic analysis retrieves C. striata as a total-group lophophorate and as an intermediate taxon between Phoronida and Brachiopoda. This suggests that the bivalved architecture of brachiopods originated from an undivided mantle in a phoronid-like ancestor, and that the ancestral vermiform trunk became reduced during the origin of Brachiopoda, illuminating the origins of body plans in the lophophorate phyla.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
Footnotes
Competing interests: The authors declare that no competing interests exist.