Herpetogaster collinsi from the Cambrian of China elucidates the dispersal and palaeogeographic distribution of early deuterostomes and the origin of the ambulacrarian larva.

ABSTRACT: The Cambrian Radiation represents one of the largest diversification events in Earth history. While the resulting taxonomic diversity is exceptional, relatively few of these novel species can be traced outside the boundaries of a single palaeocontinent. Many of those species with cosmopolitan distributions were likely active swimmers, presenting opportunity and means to conquer new areas, but this would not have been the case for sessile organisms. Herpetogaster is a lower to middle Cambrian (Series 2-Miaolingian, Stage 3-Wuliuan) genus of sessile, stalked, filter-feeding deuterostomes with two species, H. collinsi and H. haiyanensis, known respectively from Laurentia and Gondwana. Here, we expand the distribution of H. collinsi to Gondwana with newly discovered

SUBMITTER: Yang X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10637255 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature