Cambrian lobopodians–ancestors of extant onychophorans? |
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Authors: | XIANGUANG HOU JAN BERGSTRÖM |
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Institution: | Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Academia Sinica, Chi-Ming-Ssu, Nanjing 210008, People's Republic of China;Swedish Museum of Natural History, Department of Palaeozoology, Box 50007, S-104 05 Stockholm, Sweden |
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Abstract: | This paper is a review of published information on fossil lobopodians, with addition of observations and ideas based on new material. It is also an analysis of the phytogeny of the group, and presents a new classification. A character shared by three or four families, yet not seen before, is a pair of enlarged sclerites covering the head. This forms an argument for re-orienting Hallucigenia once again. This genus no longer being enigmatic, a corner-stone in Stephen Jay Gould's evidence for extinct phyla is therefore gone. It is suggested that the lobopodians, phylum Lobopodia, are arranged in two classes, the extinct Xenusia for marine forms, and the Onychophora for terrestrial forms. The marine lobopodians are morphologically much more diverse than the extant onychophorans, a condition expressed in the classification. New taxa are: Hallucigenia fortis sp. nov., the families Luolishaniidae, Cardiodictyidae and Onychodictyidae, and the new orders Archonychophora, Scleronychophora and Paronychophora. |
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Keywords: | Cambrian Chengjiang fauna Xenusia |
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