An armoured Cambrian lobopodian from China with arthropod-like appendages

Jianni Liu (), Michael Steiner, Jason A. Dunlop, Helmut Keupp, Degan Shu, Qiang Ou, Jian Han, Zhifei Zhang and Xingliang Zhang
Additional contact information
Jianni Liu: Early Life Institute, State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, Northwest University
Michael Steiner: Freie Universität Berlin
Jason A. Dunlop: Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Research on Evolution and Biodiversity at the Humboldt University Berlin
Helmut Keupp: Freie Universität Berlin
Degan Shu: Early Life Institute, State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, Northwest University
Qiang Ou: School of Earth Sciences and Resources, China University of Geosciences
Jian Han: Early Life Institute, State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, Northwest University
Zhifei Zhang: Early Life Institute, State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, Northwest University
Xingliang Zhang: Early Life Institute, State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, Northwest University

Nature, 2011, vol. 470, issue 7335, 526-530

Abstract: A 'walking cactus' related to modern arthropods Jointed limbs in arthropods are a key innovation that facilitated the evolution of the world's most species-rich animal group. Their ancestors may lie among a group of extinct animals called lobopodians, which looked rather like worms with legs. A newly discovered 520-million-year-old fossil lobopodian from China may be the closest known fossil relative of modern arthropods. A thin worm-like animal, Diania cactiformis is named to reflect its 'walking cactus' appearance. The possession of what seem to be the beginnings of robust, jointed and spiny legs suggest that this bizarre animal might be very close to the origins of the arthropods.

Date: 2011
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DOI: 10.1038/nature09704

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