Saccorhytus is an early ecdysozoan and not the earliest deuterostome

Yunhuan Liu, Emily Carlisle, Huaqiao Zhang (), Ben Yang, Michael Steiner, Tiequan Shao, Baichuan Duan, Federica Marone, Shuhai Xiao () and Philip C. J. Donoghue ()
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Yunhuan Liu: Chang’an University
Emily Carlisle: University of Bristol
Huaqiao Zhang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Ben Yang: Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences
Michael Steiner: Shandong University of Science and Technology
Tiequan Shao: Chang’an University
Baichuan Duan: First Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resource
Federica Marone: Paul Scherrer Institut
Shuhai Xiao: Virginia Tech
Philip C. J. Donoghue: University of Bristol

Nature, 2022, vol. 609, issue 7927, 541-546

Abstract: Abstract The early history of deuterostomes, the group composed of the chordates, echinoderms and hemichordates1, is still controversial, not least because of a paucity of stem representatives of these clades2–5. The early Cambrian microscopic animal Saccorhytus coronarius was interpreted as an early deuterostome on the basis of purported pharyngeal openings, providing evidence for a meiofaunal ancestry6 and an explanation for the temporal mismatch between palaeontological and molecular clock timescales of animal evolution6–8. Here we report new material of S. coronarius, which is reconstructed as a millimetric and ellipsoidal meiobenthic animal with spinose armour and a terminal mouth but no anus. Purported pharyngeal openings in support of the deuterostome hypothesis6 are shown to be taphonomic artefacts. Phylogenetic analyses indicate that S. coronarius belongs to total-group Ecdysozoa, expanding the morphological disparity and ecological diversity of early Cambrian ecdysozoans.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05107-z

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