Misplaced Pages

Yilingia Temporal range: Late Ediacaran PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Clade:	Bilateria
(unranked):	incertae sedis
Genus:	†Yilingia
Species:	†Y. spiciformis
Binomial name
†Yilingia spiciformis Chen et al. 2019

Yilingia spiciformis is a worm-like animal that lived between approximately 551 million and 539 million years ago in the Ediacaran period, around 10 million years before the Cambrian explosion. A fossil of this creature and its tracks were discovered in 2019 in Southern China. It was a segmented bilaterian, conceivably related to panarthropods or annelids. It is a rare example of a complex Ediacaran animal that is similar to animals that existed since the Cambrian, hence suggesting that perhaps the Cambrian explosion was less sudden than often assumed.

Fossils of around 35 specimens were found. The creature appears to be metameric, with each metamere having three lobes, like later trilobites. The fossils make Yilingia one of the oldest known animals to be capable of making decisions and moving on its own.

References

1. Chen, Zhe; Zhou, Chuanming; Yuan, Xunlai; Xiao, Shuhai (2019). "Death march of a segmented and trilobate bilaterian elucidates early animal evolution". Nature. 573 (7774): 412–415. Bibcode:2019Natur.573..412C. doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1522-7. PMID 31485079.
2. "Ancient wormlike animal caught in its tracks sheds light on early locomotion". 2019-09-03.
3. A 550-million-year-old worm was one of the first animals to move and make decisions, a new study says

• Ediacaran life
• Bilaterians