Vetulicola

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Vetulicola
Temporal range: Cambrian Stage 3
Vetulicola species.jpg
Vetulicola rectangulata and V. cuneata
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum:† Vetulicolia
Class:† Vetulicolida
Order:† Vetulicolata
Family:† Vetulicolidae
Genus:† Vetulicola
Hou, 1987
Type species
Vetulicola cuneata
Hou, 1987
Species

Vetulicola is an extinct genus of marine animal discovered from the Cambrian of China. It is the eponymous member of the enigmatic phylum Vetulicolia, which is of uncertain affinities but may belong to the deuterostomes. The name was derived from Vetulicola cuneata, the first species described by Hou Xian-guang in 1987 from the Lower Cambrian Chiungchussu Formation in Chengjiang, China. [1] [2]

Contents

Description

The type species, Vetulicola cuneata, as originally described by Hou Xian-guang in 1987, has a body plan similar to those of arthropods and composed of two distinct parts of approximately equal length. [3] The anterior part is rectangular with a carapace-like structure of four rigid cuticular plates, with a large mouth at the front end. [4] The posterior section is slender, strongly cuticularised and placed dorsally. Paired openings connecting the pharynx to the outside run down the sides. These features are interpreted as possible primitive gill slits. Vetulicola cuneata could be up to 9 cm long. The Vetulicola are thought to have been swimmers that were possible filter feeders. [5]

Other Vetulicola species described are Vetulicola rectangulata (Luo and Hu, 1999), V. gantoucunensis (Luo et al., 2005), V. monile (Aldridge et al., 2007), and V. longbaoshanensis (Yang et al., 2010). The mouth openings of all the other species are smaller, and do not protrude as in V. cuneata. All other species, with the stark exception of V. gantoucunensis, are smaller than the type species.

Taxonomy

Vetulicola's taxonomic position is controversial. V. cuneata was originally assigned to the phylum Arthropoda on the assumption that it was a bivalved arthropod like Canadaspis and Waptia , [3] but the lack of legs, the presence of gill slits, and the four plates in the "carapace" were unlike any known arthropod. [6] In 2001, Degan Shu and his team reinterpreted the animals as deuterostomes placing Vetulicola in the new family Vetulicolidae, order Vetulicolida, and created a new phylum Vetulicolia. [7]

Shu later in 2003 argued that the vetulicolians were an early, specialized side-branch of deuterostomes. [8] Patricio Dominguez and Richard Jefferies classify Vetulicola as an urochordate, and probably a stem-group appendicularian. [9] In contrast, Nicholas J. Butterfield places Vetulicola among the arthropods. [10] The discovery of the related Australian vetulicolian Nesonektris , from the Lower Cambrian Emu Bay Shale of Kangaroo Island, and the reidentification of the "coiled gut" of vetulicolians as being a notochord affirms the identification as an urochordate. [11]

Etymology

Vetulicola is a compound Latin word composed of vetuli, meaning "old," or "ancient," and cola, meaning "inhabitant." [7] [12]

Paleobiology

Vetulicola was the host of the symbiotic organism Vermilituus gregarius , which appears to have lived inside Vetulicola's anterior body. Only around 2% of Vetulicola individuals had Vermilituus infestations, but Vermilituus could be very numerous: one Vetulicola specimen had 88 individuals of Vermilituus infesting it. Such large numbers of symbiotic organisms were probably harmful to the host Vetulicola. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vetulicolia</span> Extinct Cambrian taxon of deuterostomes

Vetulicolia is a phylum of bilaterian animals encompassing several extinct species belonging to the Cambrian period. The phylum 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maotianshan Shales</span> Series of Early Cambrian deposits in the Chiungchussu Formation

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.

<i>Didazoon</i> Cambrian age animal

Didazoon haoae is an extinct species of vetulicolid vetulicolian described by Shu, et al. based on fossils found in the Qiongzhusi (Chiungchussu) Formation, Yu'anshan Member, Lower Cambrian, in the Dabanqiao area (Kunming), about 60 km northwest of Chengjiang, China.

<i>Pomatrum</i> Cambrian age animal

Pomatrum is an extinct vetulicolian, the senior synonym of Xidazoon; the latter taxon was described by Shu, et al. (1999) based on fossils found in the Qiongzhusi (Chiungchussu) Formation, Yu'anshan Member, Lower Cambrian, Haikou, (Kunming), about 50 km west of Chengjiang, China. It has been likened to the chordate Pipiscius.

<i>Banffia</i> Extinct genus of Cambrian organisms

Banffia is a genus of animals described from Middle Cambrian fossils. The genus commemorates Banff, Alberta, near where the first fossil specimens were discovered. Its placement in higher taxa is controversial. It is considered to be a member of the enigmatic phylum Vetulicolia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anomalocarididae</span> Clade of extinct arthropods

Anomalocarididae is an extinct family of Cambrian radiodonts, a group of stem-group arthropods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vetulicolidae</span> Extinct family of soft-bodied animals

Vetulicolidae is an extinct family of Early Cambrian deuterostomes comprising two genera: Vetulicola and Ooedigera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deuterostome</span> Superphylum of bilateral animals

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 4 phyla: Chordata, Echinodermata, Hemichordata, and the extinct Vetulicolia known from Cambrian fossils. The extinct clade Cambroernida is also thought to be a member of Deuterostomia.

<i>Clypecaris</i> Extinct genus of arthropods

Clypecaris is genus of bivalved Cambrian arthropod known from the Chengjiang biota of Yunnan, China. The genus was initially described for the type species C. pteroidea by Hou, 1999. A second species C. serrata was described by Yang et al. in 2016. The species are primarily distinguished by the presence of a serrated edge on the front of the carapace of C. serrata. C. serrata is noted for the modification of an anterior pair of limbs into spined grasping appendages, indicating a predatory lifestyle. It is unknown whether a similar structure was present in C. pteroidea.Clypecaris is considered to likely be a member or a close relative of Hymenocarina, and is closely related to Perspicaris. As well as to Ercaicunia.

<i>Haikoucaris</i> Extinct genus of arthropods

Haikoucaris is a genus of megacheiran arthropod that contains the single species Haikoucaris ercaiensis. It was discovered in the Cambrian Chengjiang biota of China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kunmingella</span>

Kunmingella is genus of Cambrian bradoriid from the Chengjiang biota, containing the single species K. douvillei. Kunmingella had 12 appendages, including a pair of antennae as well pairs of biramous limbs, including four anterior pairs of appendages bearing double rows of endites on their endopods, and a posterior 5 with only a single row of endites, as well as two terminal pairs of uniramous limbs. Eggs have been found preserved attached to the posteriormost three pairs of biramous limbs, suggesting it engaged in brood care. Around 50–80 eggs, each around 150–180 μm across were attached in total.

<i>Vetulicola cuneata</i> Extinct species of animal

Vetulicola cuneata is a species of extinct animal from the Early Cambrian Chengjiang biota of China. It was described by Hou Xian-guang in 1987 from the Lower Cambrian Chiungchussu Formation, and became the first animal under an eponymous phylum Vetulicolia.

<i>Cucumericrus</i> Extinct genus of arthropod

Cucumericrus ("cucumber-leg") is an extinct genus of stem-arthropod. The type and only species is Cucumericrus decoratus, with fossils discovered from the Maotianshan Shales of Yunnan, China.

<i>Ooedigera</i> Ovoid Cambrian animal with a bulbous tail

Ooedigera peeli is an extinct vetulicolian from the Early Cambrian of North Greenland. The front body was flattened horizontally, oval-shaped, likely bearing a reticulated or anastomosing pattern, and had 5 evenly-spaced gill pouches along the midline. The tail was also bulbous and flattened horizontally, but was divided into 7 plates connected by flexible membranes, allowing movement. Ooedigera likely swam by moving side-to-side like a fish. It may have lived in an oxygen minimum zone alongside several predators in an ecosystem based on chemosynthetic microbial mats, and was possibly a deposit or filter feeder living near the seafloor.

<i>Skeemella</i>

Skeemella clavula is an elongate animal from what is now the Middle Cambrian Wheeler Shale and Marjum lagerstätte of Utah. It has been classified with the vetulicolians.

<i>Vetulicola rectangulata</i> Extinct animal from Cambrian of the Chengjiang biota of China

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.

<i>Beidazoon</i> Extinct species of Cambrian organism

Beidazoon venustum is a deuterostome from the deuterostome group Vetulicolia. It originates from the lower Cambrian Chengjiang biota of Yunnan Province, China. Beidazoon was a marine organism discovered by Degan Shu in 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vetulocystidae</span> Extinct family of animals

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.

The Cambrian chordates are an extinct group of animals belonging to the phylum Chordata that lived during the Cambrian, between 538 and 485 million years ago. The first Cambrian chordate known is Pikaia gracilens, a lancelet-like animal from the Burgess Shale in British Columbia, Canada. The discoverer, Charles Doolittle Walcott, described it as a kind of worm (annelid) in 1911, but it was later identified as a chordate. Subsequent discoveries of other Cambrian fossils from the Burgess Shale in 1991, and from the Chengjiang biota of China in 1991, which were later found to be of chordates, several Cambrian chordates are known, with some fossils considered as putative chordates.

Hou Xian-guang is a Chinese paleontologist at Yunnan University who made key discoveries in the Cambrian life of China around 518 myr. His first discovery of animal fossils from the Cambrian sediments at Chengjiang County, Yunnan Province, led to the establishment of the Chengjiang biota, an assemblage of various life forms during the Cambrian Period. The discovery of the Chengjiang biota, remarked as "among the most spectacular in this [20th] century", added to the better understanding of how animal forms originated and evolved during the so-called Cambrian explosion.

References

  1. ↑ McMenamin, Mark A. S. (2019). "Cambrian Chordates and Vetulicolians". Geosciences. 9 (8): 354. Bibcode:2019Geosc...9..354M. doi: 10.3390/geosciences9080354 . ISSN   2076-3263.
  2. ↑ Briggs, Derek E. G.; Fortey, Richard A. (2005). "Wonderful strife: systematics, stem groups, and the phylogenetic signal of the Cambrian radiation". Paleobiology. 31 (2_Suppl): 94–112. doi:10.1666/0094-8373(2005)031[0094:WSSSGA]2.0.CO;2. ISSN   0094-8373. S2CID   44066226.
  3. 1 2 Hou, Xian-guang (1987). "Early Cambrian large bivalved arthropods from Chengjiang, Eastern Yunnan" . Acta Palaeontologica Sinica. 26 (3): 272–285 – via China Knowledge Network.
  4. ↑ Shu, D. G.; Conway Morris, S.; Han, J.; Chen, L.; Zhang, X. L.; Zhang, Z. F.; Liu, H. Q.; Li, Y.; Liu, J. N. (2001-11-22). "Primitive deuterostomes from the Chengjiang Lagerstätte (Lower Cambrian, China)". Nature. 414 (6862): 419–424. Bibcode:2001Natur.414..419S. doi:10.1038/35106514. ISSN   0028-0836. PMID   11719797. S2CID   4345484.
  5. 1 2 Li, Yujing; Williams, Mark; Harvey, Thomas H. P.; Wei, Fan; Zhao, Yang; Guo, Jin; Gabbott, Sarah; Fletcher, Tom; Hou, Xianguang; Cong, Peiyun (2020-09-18). "Symbiotic fouling of Vetulicola, an early Cambrian nektonic animal". Communications Biology. 3 (1): 517. doi:10.1038/s42003-020-01244-1. PMC   7501249 . PMID   32948820.
  6. ↑ Shu, Degan (2005). "On the Phylum Vetulicolia". Chinese Science Bulletin. 50 (20): 2342–2354. Bibcode:2005ChSBu..50.2342S. doi:10.1007/BF03183746. ISSN   1001-6538. S2CID   86827605.
  7. 1 2 Shu, D. G.; Conway Morris, S.; Han, J.; Chen, L.; Zhang, X. L.; Zhang, Z. F.; Liu, H. Q.; Li, Y.; Liu, J. N. (2001-11-22). "Primitive deuterostomes from the Chengjiang Lagerstätte (Lower Cambrian, China)". Nature. 414 (6862): 419–424. Bibcode:2001Natur.414..419S. doi:10.1038/35106514. ISSN   0028-0836. PMID   11719797. S2CID   4345484.
  8. ↑ Shu, Degan (2003). "A paleontological perspective of vertebrate origin". Chinese Science Bulletin. 48 (8): 725–735. Bibcode:2003ChSBu..48..725S. doi:10.1007/BF03187041. S2CID   85163902.
  9. ↑ Dominguez, P.; Jefferies, R. (2006-08-13). "Fossil evidence on the origin of appendicularians. In: International Urochordate Meeting 2003, Carry le Rouet, France, October 11-15th". Archived from the original on 2006-08-13. Retrieved 2023-03-02.
  10. ↑ Butterfield, Nicholas J. (2003). "Exceptional fossil preservation and the Cambrian explosion". Integrative and Comparative Biology. 43 (1): 166–177. doi: 10.1093/icb/43.1.166 . ISSN   1540-7063. PMID   21680421.
  11. ↑ García-Bellido, Diego C.; Lee, Michael S. Y.; Edgecombe, Gregory D.; Jago, James B.; Gehling, James G.; Paterson, John R. (2014-10-21). "A new vetulicolian from Australia and its bearing on the chordate affinities of an enigmatic Cambrian group". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 14: 214. doi: 10.1186/s12862-014-0214-z . ISSN   1471-2148. PMC   4203957 . PMID   25273382.
  12. ↑ Lacalli, Thurston C. (2002). "Vetulicolians—are they deuterostomes? chordates?". BioEssays. 24 (3): 208–211. doi:10.1002/bies.10064. PMID   11891757.
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