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A Cambrian soft-bodied conical animal illustrates the origins of lophophorate phyla

View ORCID ProfileHan Zeng, Xiangyuan Chen, Yao Liu, View ORCID ProfileMaoyan Zhu, View ORCID ProfileFangchen Zhao, View ORCID ProfileAihua Yang
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.03.19.485005
Han Zeng
1State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Centre for Excellence in Life and Palaeoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China;
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Xiangyuan Chen
2State Key Laboratory for Mineral Deposits Research, School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China;
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Yao Liu
1State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Centre for Excellence in Life and Palaeoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China;
3College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
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Maoyan Zhu
1State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Centre for Excellence in Life and Palaeoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China;
3College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
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Fangchen Zhao
1State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Centre for Excellence in Life and Palaeoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China;
3College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
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  • For correspondence: fczhao@nigpas.ac.cn ahyang@nju.edu.cn
Aihua Yang
2State Key Laboratory for Mineral Deposits Research, School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China;
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  • For correspondence: fczhao@nigpas.ac.cn ahyang@nju.edu.cn
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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.

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The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY 4.0 International license.
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Posted March 20, 2022.
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A Cambrian soft-bodied conical animal illustrates the origins of lophophorate phyla
Han Zeng, Xiangyuan Chen, Yao Liu, Maoyan Zhu, Fangchen Zhao, Aihua Yang
bioRxiv 2022.03.19.485005; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.03.19.485005
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A Cambrian soft-bodied conical animal illustrates the origins of lophophorate phyla
Han Zeng, Xiangyuan Chen, Yao Liu, Maoyan Zhu, Fangchen Zhao, Aihua Yang
bioRxiv 2022.03.19.485005; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.03.19.485005

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