''Wufengella'' is a genus of extinct

camenellan The camenellans, consisting of the genera ''Camenalla'', ''Dailyatia'', ''Kennardia'', ''Kelanella'', '' Wufengella'' and ''Lapworthella'', are a (probably monophyletic) group of Tommotiid invertebrates from the Cambrian The Cambrian Period ...

" tommotiid" that lived during the

Early Cambrian The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million years ago ...

( Stage 3). Described in 2022, the only species ''Wufengella bengtsonii'' was discovered from the

Maotianshan Shales The Maotianshan Shales are a series of Early Cambrian deposits in the Chiungchussu Formation, famous for their '' Konservat Lagerstätten'', deposits known for the exceptional preservation of fossilized organisms or traces. The Maotianshan Shales ...

of Chiungchussu (Qiongzhusi) Formation in Yunnan, China. The fossil indicates that the animal was an armoured worm that close to the common ancestry of the phyla Phonorida,

Brachiozoa Brachiozoa is a grouping of lophophorate animals including Brachiopoda and Phoronida. It also includes their ancestors, the extinct tommotiids. References Lophophorata Protostome unranked clades {{Protostome-stub ...

and

Bryozoa Bryozoa (also known as the Polyzoa, Ectoprocta or commonly as moss animals) are a phylum of simple, aquatic invertebrate animals, nearly all living in sedentary colonies. Typically about long, they have a special feeding structure called a ...

, which are collectively grouped into a clade called

Lophophorata The Lophophorata are a Lophotrochozoan clade consisting of the Brachiozoa and the Bryozoa. They have a lophophore. Molecular phylogenetic analyses suggest that lophophorates are protostomes, but on morphological grounds they have been assessed ...

Discovery

''Wufengella'' is known from a single specimen. The fossil was discovered by Chinese palaeontologists Jin Guo and Peiyun Cong at the

Yunnan University Yunnan University (, Acronym: YNU) is a national key university in Yunnan Province, China. Its main campuses are located in the provincial capital city of Kunming. Founded in December 1922, Yunnan University started to enroll in April 1923. It ...

. An almost complete fossil, parts of the anterior end are missing. The location of the specimen, Chiungchussu Formation at Haikou, Kunming, Southwest China, is member of the Chengjian Lagerstätte that is established to belong to

Cambrian Stage 3 Cambrian Stage 3 is the still unnamed third stage of the Cambrian. It succeeds Cambrian Stage 2 and precedes Cambrian Stage 4, although neither its base nor top have been formally defined. The plan is for its lower boundary to correspond approxi ...

(between 521 and 514 million year ago). The same fossil deposit had yielded worm-like lobopod ''

Facivermis ''Facivermis'' (meaning "torch worm" ) is a genus of sessile lobopodian from the Lower Cambrian Maotianshan shales of China Anatomy ''Facivermis'' was a worm-like creature up to 90 mm long. Its body was divided into three sections. The ante ...

'' and

Cambrian chordate The Cambrian chordates are an extinct group of animals belonging to the phylum Chordata that lived during the Cambrian, between 485 and 538 million years ago. The first Cambrian chordate known is '' Pikaia gracilens'', a lancelet-like animal from ...

( myllokunmingiid) among other animal fossils. The name Wufengalla is after the Wufeng Hill in Chengjiang. Wufeng is a Chinese word for "dancing/flying phoenix." The species name was given to honour Stefan Bengtson, a palaenotologist at the Swedish Museum of Natural History. The specimen (CJHMD00041) is maintained at the Nature Museum of Yunnan. Luke A. Parry at the University of Oxford identified the specimen as a tommotiid worm, and the description was published in ''

Current Biology ''Current Biology'' is a biweekly peer-reviewed scientific journal that covers all areas of biology, especially molecular biology, cell biology, genetics, neurobiology, ecology, and evolutionary biology. The journal includes research articles, ...

''.

Description

From a partially incomplete fossil, ''Wufengella'' is known to have an elongated body that measures about long. It has long bristles on both sides of the body that are presumed to be sensory organs for detecting their immediate surrounding such as approaching predators. It also has flap-like structures that could be suction organs for attachment to objects. In contrast to its related lophophorates which are fixed to sea floors, ''Wufengella'' was likely actively mobile.. The back (dorsal) side of ''Wufengella'' is studded with armoured plates called

sclerites A sclerite ( Greek , ', meaning " hard") is a hardened body part. In various branches of biology the term is applied to various structures, but not as a rule to vertebrate anatomical features such as bones and teeth. Instead it refers most commonl ...

. The sclerites are arranged almost randomly (bilaterally asymmetrical) throughout the body. However, there is some pattern of organisation. The larger major sclerites are aligned in two rows along the body length, and the tiny minor ones are distributed unevenly in between the two major rows.

Evolutionary importance

''Wufengella'' has two important features that contribute to evolutionary changes in ancient invertebrate group, the lophophorates, that include the tommotiids as one group. One feature is the presence of sclerites, which is a common structure that distinguishes tommotiid species. In all groups, except the tannuolinids (such as ''Micrina''), the sclerites are asymmetrical. The structure and distribution of sclerites indicate the linkage between the different groups. Another feature is body segmentation. The arrangement of the sclerites and the bristles indicate that the body is transversely segmented as in modern annelid worms. This suggest that ''Wufengella'' could be related to the common ancestor of annelids and brachiopods. In addition, the over structure indicates that it could be close to the common ancestry Phonorida,

and

. The three phyla are established to constitute the same evolutionary lineage and are collectively grouped into a clade called

. It has been predicted that the last common ancestor of the lophophorates would be a sessile, lophophore-bearing suspension feeder having U-shaped gut (called

lophophore The lophophore () is a characteristic feeding organ possessed by four major groups of animals: the Brachiopoda, Bryozoa, Hyolitha, and Phoronida, which collectively constitute the protostome group Lophophorata.crown group of

References

{{Reflist Fossil taxa described in 2022 Cambrian invertebrates Maotianshan shales fossils Cambrian China Lophophorata