Core value of the Chengjiang fauna:formation of the animal kingdom and the birth of basic human organs  

作　　者：SHU Degan HAN Jian 

机构地区：[1]Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Early Life and Environments(SKLELE),State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics,Department of Geology,Northwest University,Xi'an 710069,China [2]Northwest University Museum,Xi'an 710069,China

出　　处：《地学前缘》2020年第6期382-412,共31页Earth Science Frontiers

基　　金：Natural Science Foundation of China(41672009,41621003,41772010,41720104002);The Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences(XDB18000000,XDB26000000)。

摘　　要：Well known for its abundant and extraordinary soft-tissue fossils,the Chengjiang fauna has witnessed the main phase of the Cambrian explosion and the first great congress of the ancestors of nearly all major phyla of animals on Earth.The large-scale survey and exploration of the fauna by Chinese paleontologists,partly in collaboration with international scientists,over the past 30 years can be broadly divided into three stages.In the first decade since 1984(19841994),a large number of invertebrates,including basal animals and the protostomes of the early animal tree were discovered,but the subkingdom Deuterostomia was completely unknown.Then in the second decade(19952005),the great discoveries of various deuterostomes led to the construction of the basic framework of the Deuterostomia and then to the formation of the tripartite phylogenetic trees of early animals(TPTEA,including basal animals,protostomes and deuterostomes),for the first time.In the third decade(after 2005),the academic community began to think about the internal relationships between the formation of TPTEA and the multiepisode Cambrian explosion,leading to the new hypothesis of the three-episode Cambrian explosion.The Chengjiang fauna is important for deciphering the fauna structure,paleoecological environment,and so on.However,its core academic values mainly rest on two aspects.Firstly,The Chengjiang fauna,as the main phase witness of the Cambrian explosion,has created a nearly complete phylogenetic framework of the TPTEA on Earth for the first time.The three-phase radiation hypothesis reveals the essential connotation of the Cambrian explosion:a step-wise divergent evolution of animals,from basal to highly advanced groups,lasting about 40 million years.In the first phase,it gave birth to a bulk of basal animals(including some now extinct“animal”groups)in the latest Ediacaran,probably including some pioneer protostomes.The second phase took place in the first epoch of the Cambrian period(Terreneuvian),giving rise to the main invertebrate pro

关 键 词：core value of the Chengjiang fauna essential properties of the Cambrian explosion tripartite phylogenetic tree of early animals(TPTEA)and three-phase radiation oldest vertebrates Myllokunmingiida basal chordates Vetulicolia Ecdysozoa 

分 类 号：Q915[天文地球—古生物学与地层学]