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Science 27 May 1994:
Vol. 264. no. 5163, pp. 1304 - 1308
DOI: 10.1126/science.264.5163.1304
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Articles

Evidence for Monophyly and Arthropod Affinity of Cambrian Giant Predators

Jun-yuan Chen 1, Lars Ramsköld 2, and Gui-qing Zhou 1

1 Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Academia Sinica, Chi-Ming-Ssu, Nanjing 210008, People's Republic of China
2 Museum of Palaeontology, University of Uppsala, Norbyvägen 22, S-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden

The Chinese Early Cambrian Chengjiang fauna includes three different anomalocaridids, a globally spread, extinct marine group including the largest known Cambrian animals. Anomalocaridids were active predators, and their presence implies that a complex ecosystem appeared abruptly in the earliest Phanerozoic. Complete specimens display several sets of characters shared only with some other exclusively Cambrian forms. This evidence indicates that anomalocaridids, Opabinia, and Kerygmachela form a monophyletic clade. Certain features indicate arthropod affinities of the lade, and for this group an unnamed (sub)phylum-level taxon within an arthropod (super)phylum is proposed.

Submitted on December 27, 1993
Accepted on March 15, 1994


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