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The Qingjiang biota are a major discovery of fossilized remains dating from the early Cambrian period approximately 518 million years ago.[1] The remains consist at least 20,000 individual specimens, and were discovered near the Danshui River in the Hubei province of China in 2019.[2] The site is particularly notable due to both the large proportion of new taxa represented (approximately 53% of the specimens),[1] and due to the large amount of soft-body tissue of the ancient specimens that was preserved, likely due to the organisms being rapidly covered in sediment prior to fossilization, that allowed for the detailed preservation of even fragile, soft-bodied creatures such as worms and jellyfish. Shelly fossils found at the site include trilobites, anomalocaridids, lobopods, bradoriids, brachiopods, hyolithids, mollusks, chancelloriids, kinorhynchs, priapulids, and articulated sponge spicules.
Restoration of an unnamed Qingjiang medusa
The site is a Burgess Shale type preservation,[1] and has been widely compared[1][3][4] to the Burgess Shale in terms of the site's richness and significance. The discovery has been described as one of the most significant of its kind in the last 100 years.[2] Initial publications regarding the site stated that 4,351 of the collected specimens had been examined,[2] and 101 species had been identified, 53 of which were new to science.[5]
Talks are reportedly underway with local government to protect the site to ensure the longevity of continued research on the deposited specimens.[4]
"Qingjiangonema is a long filamentous form comprising hundreds of cells filled by equimorphic and equidimensional pyrite microcrystals with a light sulfur isotope composition. Multiple lines of evidence indicate Qingjiangonema was a sulfate-reducing bacterium that exhibits similar patterns of cell organization to filamentous forms within the phylum Desulfobacterota, including the sulfate-reducing Desulfonema and sulfide-oxidizing cable bacteria."
Chuaria is a spheroidal and thick-walled eukaryote that is typically regarded as having algal affinities based on cell walls and biogeochemical analyses. It appears to have existed from the late Paleoproterozoic (1670–1640 Ma) to the Qingjiang Formation (518 Ma). "Like many Precambrian microfossils (Simpson, 1944, Schopf, 1994, Dvořák et al., 2015), its extraordinarily slow rate of evolutionary change was probably due to the asexual reproduction and wide ecological tolerance. Accordingly, if Chuaria represented a homogeneous eukaryote, it would make sense that it retained a consistent morphology for an exceptionally long geological time. Such hypobradytelic organism can be seen in macro-organisms as well, e.g., Marchantites Brongniart, 1849 of bryophyte (Li et al., 2014), or Lampetra Bonnaterre, 1788 of chordate (Gess et al., 2006)."
Megaspirellus was originally identified as an alga but has been more recently tentatively re-interpreted as a cololite (fossilized intestinal casts of faecal material) and a junior synonym of Cilindrotomaculum.[8]
A red alga. "Thalli comprise flat and ribbon‐shaped branches showing different branching patterns, some short branchlets, discoid or globose holdfasts and an unexpected occurrence of possible cystocarps (reproductive bodies)."
"Smooth cylindrical ribbons 0.19–2.2mm wide and up to 74.0 mm long. Ribbons are flexible and can be curved, looped or folded, but are not regularly coiled as in Megaspirellus or Grypania. No branching or holdfast structures are associated with the ribbons."[10]
"Owing to the presence of definite hexactines and hexactine-derived spicules, Sanshapentella can be assigned to Hexactinellida... Sponge body is composed of a stout trunk (usually 10–35 mm in thickness) and four or five conical branches at the top."
"Limpet-formed shell, flattened, with elliptical aperture. Radial sculpture of numerous high and narrow primary and secondary ribs, intersecting the concentric growth lines as imbrications. A prominent fold on anterior flank of shell, extending from apical region toward the anterior edge of aperture."
The family Sunnellidae includes three genera: Combinivalvula, Sunella, and Jinningella. "Sunellids resemble Isoxys Walcott, 1890 to which they may be closely related; both possess a bivalved, elongated carapace with cardinal spines that almost entirely covers the body. However, neither cephalic appendages nor proximal portions of trunk limbs are visible in sunellids, and thus, their systematic position remains uncertain."[19]
"The general morphology of Duplapex gen. nov. clearly indicates affinity with the Family Tuzoiidae, supported by the unmineralized bivalved carapace, reticulate ornamentation, small marginal spines and annulated eye stalks. However, its layered valves are distinguished from those of Tuzoia (the only genus found in the Family Tuzoiidae), and Duplapex has unique ventral notches and doublure spines. These justify the erection of a new genus within the Family Tuzoiidae."
I. minor appears to have produced many eggs (approximately 300 per clutch), and egg-bearing individuals were about half the size of adults, indicating r-selection in this species. This is currently the earliest diverging arthropod that displays brood behavior.
