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A new Early Cambrian onychophoran-like animal, Paucipodia gen. nov., from the Chengjiang fauna, China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2011

Chen Jun-yuan ,
Zhou Gui-qing  and
Lars Ramsköld
Chen Jun-yuan
Affiliation:
Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Academia Sinica, Nanjing 210008, People's Republic of China
Zhou Gui-qing
Affiliation:
Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Academia Sinica, Nanjing 210008, People's Republic of China
Lars Ramsköld*
Affiliation:
Museum of Palaeontology, University of Uppsala, Norbyvagen 22, S-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden
*
*To whom correspondence should be addressed
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Abstract

An onychophoran-like fossil animal, Paucipodia inermis gen. et sp. nov., is described from the Lower Cambrian Chengjiang lagerstatte in Yunnan, China. The animal was soft-bodied, and possessed six pairs of unjointed legs, each having two claws distally. The body was finely annulated, lacked trunk plates, and apparently terminated posteriorly with the last leg pair, without preserved evidence of a posterior trunk extension. Paucipodia widens the morphological range hitherto known in Cambrian lobopodians, notably regarding leg number and presence or absence of plates. Its morphology also provides support for the recently suggested anteroposterior orientation of Hallucigenia and Microdictyon.

Keywords

CambrianlobopodianOnychophorasoft-bodiedChengjiang fauna
Type
Research Article
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 85 , Issue 4 , 1994 , pp. 275 - 282
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1994

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