Lobopodians are members of the informal group Lobopodia, or the formally erected phylum Lobopoda Cavalier-Smith (1998). They are panarthropods with stubby legs called lobopods, a term which may also be used as a common name of this group as well. While the definition of lobopodians may differ between literatures, it usually refers to a group of soft-bodied, marine worm-like fossil panarthropods such as Aysheaia and Hallucigenia. However, other genera like Kerygmachela and Pambdelurion are often referred to as “gilled lobopodians”.
Vetulicolia is a clade of bilaterian animals encompassing several extinct species belonging to the Cambrian period. The clade was created by Degan Shu and his research team in 2001, and named after Vetulicola cuneata, the first species of the phylum described in 1987.
The Maotianshan Shales (帽天山页岩) are a series of Early Cambrian sedimentary deposits in the Chiungchussu Formation, famous for their Konservat Lagerstätten, deposits known for the exceptional preservation of fossilized organisms or traces. The Maotianshan Shales form one of some forty Cambrian fossil locations worldwide exhibiting exquisite preservation of rarely preserved, non-mineralized soft tissue, comparable to the fossils of the Burgess Shale of British Columbia, Canada. They take their name from Maotianshan Hill in Chengjiang County, Yunnan Province, China.
Simon Conway Morris is an English palaeontologist, evolutionary biologist, and astrobiologist known for his study of the fossils of the Burgess Shale and the Cambrian explosion. The results of these discoveries were celebrated in Stephen Jay Gould's 1989 book Wonderful Life. Conway Morris's own book on the subject, The Crucible of Creation (1998), however, is critical of Gould's presentation and interpretation.
Deuterostomes are bilaterian animals of the superphylum Deuterostomia, typically characterized by their anus forming before the mouth during embryonic development. Deuterostomia is further divided into four phyla: Chordata, Echinodermata, Hemichordata, and the extinct Vetulicolia known from Cambrian fossils. The extinct clade Cambroernida is thought to be a member of Deuterostomia.
Occacaris is an extinct nektonic predatory arthropod from the Lower Cambrian Maotianshan shale Lagerstätte, known from three species. It bears a superficial resemblance to the Cambrian arthropod, Canadaspis, though, was much smaller, and had a pair of "great appendages", with which it may have grasped prey. It was originally considered to belong to Megacheira, however it is questioned in later study.
Miraluolishania is an extinct lobopodian known from Chengjiang County in China. It is remarkable for the possession of lensed pit-eyes. The only species, Miraluolishania haikouensis, was described from the Maotianshan Shales at Haikou by Jianni Liu and Degan Shu in 2004. In 2009, a team of palaeontologists at the Yunnan University, led by Xiaoya Ma reported the discovery of 42 other specimens from Haikou. With the help of Swiss palaeontologist Jan Bergström, Ma and Hou came to the conclusion that all the specimens were the same species as Luolishania; another lobopod discovered from the Chengjian in 1989. Chengjian is 40 kms from Haikou and the fossil fauna are different. A reassessment by Liu and Shu's team at the Northwest University in 2008 established that Luolishania and Miraluolishania are distinct animals.
Eolympia is interpreted as an extinct monospecific genus of sea anemone or dinomischid ctenophore which existed in what is now Ningqiang, Shaanxi Province, China during the lower Cambrian period. Its fossils have been recovered from the Kuanchuanpu Formation. The pedicle is long, suggesting the animal engaged in sexual intercourse, though marked perforations imply that reproduction by transverse fission was also quite likely as a more primitive backup.
Diania is an extinct genus of lobopodian panarthropod found in the Lower Cambrian Maotianshan shale of China, represented by a single species - D. cactiformis. Known during its investigation by the nickname "walking cactus", this organism belongs to a group known as the armoured lobopodians, and has a simple worm-like body with robust, spiny legs. Initially, the legs were thought to have a jointed exoskeleton and Diania was suggested to be evolutionarily close to early arthropods, but many later studies have rejected this interpretation.
Stage 2 of the Cambrian is the unnamed upper stage of the Terreneuvian Series. It lies atop the Fortunian and below Stage 3 of the Cambrian. It is commonly referred to as the Tommotian, after the Cambrian stratigraphy of Siberia. Neither the upper nor lower boundary has yet been defined by the International Commission on Stratigraphy. The preferred definitions for the lower boundary are the first appearance of the molluscs Watsonella crosbyi or Aldanella attleborensis around 529 million years ago. The correlation between the lowest occurrences of A. attleborensis and W. crosbyi with the Zhujiaqing positive carbon isotope excursion (ZHUCE) has led to the conclusion that the combination of these two markers are a reliable indicator of the boundary between the Fortunian and Stage 2. The proposed upper boundary might be the first appearance of trilobites around 521 million years ago.
Maotianoascus octonarius is an extinct species of stem-group ctenophore, known from the Chinese Maotianshan shales of Yunnan. It is dated to Cambrian Stage 3 and belongs to late Early Cambrian strata.
Xianguangia is a soft-bodied sea anemone-like fossil animal from the Chengjiang Biota of China.
Antennacanthopodia is a rare unarmoured lobopodian from the Chengjiang biota, with prickly legs, a pair of 'antennae', and an onychophoran-like body outline. It also has a pair of frontal antennae, potential ocellus-like lateral visual organs, second antennae possibly homologous to the slime papillae of modern Onychophorans, a straight, voluminous midgut, diminutive spines arrayed on the leg and the trunk, well-developed leg musculature, highly sclerotized terminal leg pads, and presumptively a pair of posteriormost appendicules.
Vetulicola rectangulata is a species of extinct animal from the Early Cambrian of the Chengjiang biota of China. Regarded as a deuterostome, it has characteristic rectangular anterior body on which the posterior tail region is attached. It was described by Luo Huilin and Hu Shi-xue in 1999.
Scleroctenophora is an extinct class of stem group ctenophores, known from the Chinese Maotianshan shales of Yunnan. It is dated to Cambrian Stage 3 and belongs to late Early Cambrian strata. Scleroctenophorans are easily distinguished from other ctenophores by the presence of an internal skeleton that supports the body.
Saccorhytus is an extinct genus of animal possibly belonging to the superphylum Ecdysozoa, and it is represented by a single species, Saccorhytus coronarius. The organism lived approximately 540 million years ago in the beginning of the Cambrian period. Initially proposed as a deuterostome, which would have made it the oldest known species of this superphylum, it has since been determined to belong to a protostome group called the ecdysozoans.
Onychodictyon is a genus of extinct lobopodian known from the Lower Cambrian Chengjiang Maotianshan Shales in the Yunnan Province in China. It was characterized by a stout body covered by fleshy papillae and pairs of sclerotized plates with spines, representing part of the diverse "armoured lobopodians" alongside similar forms such as Microdictyon and Hallucigenia.
Vetulocystidae is the only family of the taxon Vetulocystida, which is a group of extinct deuterostomes of uncertain phylogenetic position. Vetulocystidae is made up of the genera Vetulocystis, Dianchicystis and Thylacocercus.
Luolishania is an extinct genus of lobopodian panarthropod and known from the Lower Cambrian Chiungchussu Formation of the Chengjiang County, Yunnan Province, China. A monotypic genus, it contains one species Luolishania longicruris. It was discovered and described by Hou Xian-Guang and Chen Jun-Yuan in 1989. It is one of the superarmoured Cambrian lobopodians suspected to be either an intermediate form in the origin of velvet worms (Onychophora) or basal to at least Tardigrada and Arthropoda. It is the basis of the family name Luolishaniidae, which also include other related lobopods such as Acinocricus, Collinsium, Facivermis, and Ovatiovermis. Along with Microdictyon, it is the first lobopodian fossil discovered from China.
Lenisambulatrix is a genus of extinct worm belonging to the group Lobopodia and known from the Lower Cambrian Maotianshan shale of China. It is represented by a single species L. humboldti. The incomplete fossil was discovered and described by Qiang Ou and Georg Mayer in 2018. Due to its missing parts, its relationship with other lobopodians is not clear. It shares many structural features with another Cambrian lobopodian Diania cactiformis, a fossil of which was found alongside it.
