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Originally published in Science Express on 3 June 2004
Science 9 July 2004:
Vol. 305. no. 5681, pp. 218 - 222
DOI: 10.1126/science.1099213
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Research Articles

Small Bilaterian Fossils from 40 to 55 Million Years Before the Cambrian

Jun-Yuan Chen,1,2* David J. Bottjer,3* Paola Oliveri,4 Stephen Q. Dornbos,3 Feng Gao,4 Seth Ruffins,4 Huimei Chi,5 Chia-Wei Li,6 Eric H. Davidson4

Ten phosphatized specimens of a small (<180 micrometers) animal displaying clear bilaterian features have been recovered from the Doushantuo Formation, China, dating from 40 to 55 million years before the Cambrian. Seen in sections, this animal (Vernanimalcula guizhouena gen. et sp. nov.) had paired coeloms extending the length of the gut; paired external pits that could be sense organs; bilateral, anterior-posterior organization; a ventrally directed anterior mouth with thick walled pharynx; and a triploblastic structure. The structural complexity is that of an adult rather than a larval form. These fossils provide the first evidence confirming the phylogenetic inference that Bilateria arose well before the Cambrian.

1 Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Nanjing 210008, China.
2 Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
3 Department of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
4 Division of Biology 156-29, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
5 Department of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China.
6 Department of Life Science, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan, China.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: chenjunyuan{at}163.net (J.-Y.C.); dbottjer{at}usc.edu (D.J.B.)

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