Objective The putative coronatean Punctatus flourished at the beginning of the Cambrian explosion, and is significant in the exploration of the origin and evolution of early life. Liu Yunhuan established a new specie...Objective The putative coronatean Punctatus flourished at the beginning of the Cambrian explosion, and is significant in the exploration of the origin and evolution of early life. Liu Yunhuan established a new species: Punctatus triangulicostalis Liu, 2006. Two questions remain: how was the special body plan of P. triangulicostalis formed? How does P. triangulicostalis transform from embryo to the long cylindrical mature individual? Although the study of Steiner et al. in 2004 involved the above questions, they did not explain them clearly due to the lack of fossil materials at that time. This article aims to consider the above questions based on new information from several rare specimens.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant No.41572009)the State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy (grant No.173121)the College Students’ Training Program of Chang’an University (201610710047, 201710710062, 201710710063, 201710710240)
文摘Objective The putative coronatean Punctatus flourished at the beginning of the Cambrian explosion, and is significant in the exploration of the origin and evolution of early life. Liu Yunhuan established a new species: Punctatus triangulicostalis Liu, 2006. Two questions remain: how was the special body plan of P. triangulicostalis formed? How does P. triangulicostalis transform from embryo to the long cylindrical mature individual? Although the study of Steiner et al. in 2004 involved the above questions, they did not explain them clearly due to the lack of fossil materials at that time. This article aims to consider the above questions based on new information from several rare specimens.