Vetulicolians from the Lower Cambrian Sirius Passet Lagerstätte, North Greenland, and the polarity of morphological characters in basal deuterostomes

Abstract: Vetulicolians are problematic Cambrian fossils with a debated phylogenetic history. Here, we describe two vetulicolian specimens from the Lower Cambrian Sirius Passet locality in North Greenland. One of the specimens is assigned to Ooedigera peeli gen. et sp. nov, whereas the other is reta...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Palaeontology
Main Authors: Vinther, Jakob, Smith, M. Paul, Harper, David A T
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2011
Subjects:
Banffia
Chengjiang
Chordate
Deuterostome
Heteromorpha
Vetulicolia
Greenland
Sirius
North Greenland
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/1983/4029c2d4-464c-4554-9a2c-dfbb12ce416c
https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/4029c2d4-464c-4554-9a2c-dfbb12ce416c
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4983.2011.01034.x
http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79955965643&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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Summary:Abstract: Vetulicolians are problematic Cambrian fossils with a debated phylogenetic history. Here, we describe two vetulicolian specimens from the Lower Cambrian Sirius Passet locality in North Greenland. One of the specimens is assigned to Ooedigera peeli gen. et sp. nov, whereas the other is retained under open nomenclature. The mode of tail flexibility has been debated in the literature, and we argue here that the tail normally flexed laterally to generate power strokes rather than dorsoventrally. The phylogenetic relationships of vetulicolians are discussed in the light of current knowledge of deuterostome phylogeny and morphology, and it is concluded that the best hypothesis on currently available evidence is that vetulicolians are a clade or paraphyletic assemblage of stem-Deuterostomata. The presence of a voluminous, sediment-filled anterior chamber suggests that the atrium may be a synapomorphy of deuterostomes.

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