Vetulicola

Taxobox
name = "Vetulicola"
fossil_range = Cambrian


image_caption = "Vetulicola cuneata"
regnum = Animalia
superphylum = Deuterostomia
phylum = Vetulicolia
phylum_authority = Shu, et al. 2001
familia = Vetulicolidae
genus = "Vetulicola"
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision =
*"V. cuneata"
*"V. gantoucunensis"
*"V. rectangulata"

"Vetulicola" is a genus of small animals of uncertain affinity, known from early-Cambrian fossils known from the Chengjiang biota of China.

"Vetulicola cuneata" (Hou, 1987) has a body composed of two distinct parts of approximately equal length. The front part is rectangular with a carapace-like structure of four rigid cuticular plates, with a large mouth at the front end. The posterior section is slender, strongly cuticularised and placed dorsally. Paired openings connecting the pharynx to the outside run down the sides. These features are interpreted as possible primitive gill slits. "Vetulicola cuneata" could be up to 7 cm long. The "Vetulicola" are thought to have been swimmers that were either filter feeders or detrivores.

Other "Vetulicola" species described are "Vetulicola gantoucunensis" (Luo et al., 2005) and "Vetulicola rectangulata" (Luo & Hou, 1999). However, some experts suspect that "V. rectangulata" were actually elongated specimens of "V. cuneata".

"Vetulicola"'s taxonomic position is controversial. "Vetulicola cuneata" was originally assigned to the crustaceans, but the lack of legs, the gill slits, and the four plates in the "carapace" were unlike any known arthropod. Shu "et al." placed "Vetulicola" in the new family Vetulicolidae, order Vetulicolida and phylum Vetulicolia, among the deuterostomes. Shu (2003) later argued that the vetulicolians were an early, specialized side-branch of deuterostomes. Dominguez and Jefferies classify "Vetulicola" as an urochordate, and probably a stem-group appendicularian. In contrast, Butterfield places "Vetulicola" among the arthropods.

References

*Butterfield, Nicholas J. 2003. Exceptional Fossil Preservation and the Cambrian Explosion. "Integrative and Comparative Biology". 43(1):166-177. [http://icb.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/43/1/166] - URL retrieved June 22 2006
*Dominguez, Patricio and Jefferies, Richard. 2003. Fossil evidence on the origin of appendicularians. International Urochordate Meeting 2003. Abstract at [http://nsm.fullerton.edu/~lamberts/ascidian/UromeetingAbstracts.html] - URL retrieved June 22 2006
*LUO, Huilin, FU, Xiaoping, HU, Shixue, LI, Yong, CHEN, Liangzhong, YOU, Ting and LIU, Qi. 2005. New Vetulicoliids from the Lower Cambrian Guanshan Fauna, Kunming. Abstract at [http://scholar.ilib.cn/Abstract.aspx?A=dzxb-e200501001] - URL retrieved June 30 2008
*Shu, D.-G., Conway Morris, S., Han, J., Chen, L., Zhang, X.-L., Zhang, Z.-F., Liu, H.-Q., Li, Y., and Liu, J.-N. 2001. Primitive Deuterostomes from the Chengjiang Lagerstätte (Lower Cambrian, China), "Nature", 414:419-424. (November 11 2001). Abstract at [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v414/n6862/abs/414419a0.html] . - URL retrieved June 30 2008
*Shu, Degan. 2003. A paleontological perspective of vertebrate origin. "Chinese Science Bulletin", Vol. 48 No. 8 725-735. April, 2003. Abstract at [http://scholar.ilib.cn/A-kxtb-e200308003.html] - URL retrieved June 30 2008

External links

* [http://www.fossilmuseum.net/Fossil_Sites/Chengjiang/Chengjiang-Biota.htm Biota of the Maotianshan Shale, Chengjiang China] - URL retrieved June 22 2006
*Palaeos' Page on Vetulicolia [http://www.palaeos.com/Invertebrates/Deuterostomia/Vetulicolia.html]
* [http://www.fossilmuseum.net/Fossil_Sites/Chengjiang/Vetulicola-cuneata/Vetulicola.htm Photos of "Vetulicola cuneata" fossils] - URL retrieved June 22 2006
* [http://www.fossilmuseum.net/Fossil_Sites/Chengjiang/Vetulicola-rectangulata/Vetulicola.htm Photos of "Vetulicola rectangulata" fossils] - Accessed January 3, 2008
* [http://www.fossilmall.com/EDCOPE_Enterprises/Chengjiang/chengjiangfossil4/chengjiangfossils-4.htm Photos of "Vetulicola gangtoucunensis" fossils] - Accessed January 3, 2008