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Eolympia

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Eolympia
Temporal range: Fortunian
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: incertae sedis
Genus: Eolympia
Species:
E. pediculata
Binomial name
Eolympia pediculata
Han et al., 2010

Eolympia (meaning "dawn (Greek word ‘eos’) + Olympic games") is interpreted as an extinct monospecific genus of sea anemone[1] or dinomischid ctenophore[2] which existed in what is now Ningqiang, Shaanxi Province, China during the lower Cambrian period (Fortunian Stage of the Terreneuvian Series - the lower unit of the Lower Cambrian). Its fossils have been recovered from the Kuanchuanpu Formation. The pedicle (after which E. pediculata is named) is long, suggesting the animal engaged in sexual intercourse, though marked perforations imply that reproduction by transverse fission was also quite likely as a more primitive backup.[1]

The fossil may alternatively represent a scalidophoran worm.[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b Jian Han; Shin Kubota; Hiro-omi Uchida; George D. Stanley Jr.; Xiaoyong Yao; Degan Shu; Yong Li; Kinya Yasui (2010). "Tiny Sea Anemone from the Lower Cambrian of China". PLOS ONE. 5 (10): e13276. Bibcode:2010PLoSO...513276H. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0013276. PMC 2954142. PMID 20967244.
  2. ^ Zhao, Yang; Vinther, Jakob; Parry, Luke A.; Wei, Fan; Green, Emily; Pisani, Davide; Hou, Xianguang; Edgecombe, Gregory D.; Cong, Peiyun (April 2019). "Cambrian Sessile, Suspension Feeding Stem-Group Ctenophores and Evolution of the Comb Jelly Body Plan". Current Biology. 29 (7): 1112–1125.e2. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2019.02.036. hdl:1983/40a6bcb8-a740-482c-a23c-7d563faea5c5. ISSN 0960-9822.
  3. ^ Liu, Y.; Xiao, S.; Shao, T.; Broce, J.; Zhang, H. (2014). "The oldest known priapulid-like scalidophoran animal and its implications for the early evolution of cycloneuralians and ecdysozoans". Evolution & Development. 16 (3): 155–165. doi:10.1111/ede.12076. PMID 24754444. S2CID 205095219.