Dawn of complex animal food webs:A new predatory anthozoan(Cnidaria)from Cambrian  

作　　者：Qiang Ou Degan Shu Zhifei Zhang Jian Han Heyo Van Iten Meirong Cheng Jie Sun Xiaoyong Yao Rong Wang Georg Mayer 

机构地区：[1]Early Life Evolution Laboratory,State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology,China University of Geosciences,Beijing 100083,China [2]Department of Zoology,University of Kassel,Kassel 34132,Germany [3]Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Early Life and Environment,State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics,Department of Geology,Northwest University,Xi’an 710069,China [4]Department of Geology,Hanover College,Hanover,IN 47243,USA [5]Cincinnati Museum Center,Department of Invertebrate Paleontology,1301 Western Avenue,Cincinnati,OH 45203,USA [6]School of Earth Science and Resources,Chang’an University,Xi’an 710054,China

出　　处：《The Innovation》2022年第1期83-90,共8页创新（英文）

基　　金：supported by grants fromthe National Natural Science Foundation of China(41972009,41572017,41102012,41672009,41772010,41621003,41890844,and 41911530236 to Q.O.,D.S.,J.H.,and Z.Z.);the Chinese“111”project(B20011 to Q.O.);the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(2010ZY07,2011YXL013,and 2012097 to Q.O.);the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in Universities of the Ministry of Education(NCET-13-1008 to Q.O.);the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation(CHN1164230 HFST-P to Q.O.);the German Research Foundation(DFG,Ma 4147/3-1 toG.M.);the Strategic Priority Research Programof Chinese Academy of Sciences(XDB26000000 to J.H.).

摘　　要：Cnidarians diverged very early in animal evolution;therefore,investigations of the morphology and trophic levels of early fossil cnidarians may provide critical insights into the evolution of metazoans and the origin of modern marine food webs.However,there has been a lack of unambiguous anthozoan cnidarians from Ediacaran assemblages,and undoubted anthozoans from the Cambrian radiation of metazoans are very rare and lacking in ecological evidence.Here,we report a new polypoid cnidarian,Nailiana elegans gen.et sp.nov.,represented by multiple solitary specimens from the early Cambrian Chengjiang biota(-520 Ma)of South China.These specimens show eight unbranched tentacles surrounding a single opening into the gastric cavity,which may have born multiple mesenteries.Thus,N.elegans displays a level of organization similar to that of extant cnidarians.Phylogenetic analyses place N.elegans in the stem lineage of Anthozoa and suggest that the ancestral anthozoan was a soft-bodied,solitary polyp showing octoradial symmetry.Moreover,one specimen of the new polyp preserves evidence of predation on an epifaunal lingulid brachiopod.This case provides the oldest direct evidence of macrophagous predation,the advent of which may have triggered the emergence of complex trophic/ecological relationships in Cambrian marine communities and spurred the explosive radiation of animal body plans.

关 键 词：China CAMBRIAN SOLITARY 

分 类 号：P53[天文地球—古生物学与地层学]