Name: Echinodermata (?); Cotyledion tylodes
Geological Time: Early Cambrian (~525 million years ago)
Size (25.4mm=1 inch): 15 mm long, 5 mm across on a 40 mm by 29 mm matrixx
Fossil Site: Chengjiang: Quiongzhusi Section, Yu’anshan Member, Heilinpu Formation, Mafang, Anning, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China
While some researchers place this Chengjiang fossil in the Problematica,
others believe it is an early echinoderm much like the crinoids that
flourished later in the Paleozoic. The calyx-like cap and stem are
indeed evocative of such an assignment, perhaps more than some sort
of convergent evolution. Whatever the correct assignment, this is
a most taxon is a most unusual member of the Chengjiang biota. |
