2025/07/01 by Gregory D. Edgecombe, Diego C. García‐Bellido, John R. Paterson · 1 voice · 1 citation
Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Marine Biology and Ecology Research #Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology #Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
paper · doi:10.1017/jpa.2025.10138
openalex publication_date 2025/07/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/09
Abstract Xandarellida is a clade of artiopodan euarthropods known exclusively from the early Cambrian (Series 2, Stage 3) Chengjiang biota of South China, apart from the possible inclusion of Phytophilaspis Ivantsov, 1999 from the early Cambrian Sinsk Biota of Siberia. A rare euarthropod taxon represented by four specimens from the Emu Bay Shale (Cambrian Series 2, Stage 4) of Kangaroo Island, South Australia, represents the first record of Xandarellida from East Gondwana. A new monotypic genus, Austroxandarella n. gen., is based on A. poikar n. sp., being most readily distinguished by its elongate pygidium. Close affinities to Xandarella Hou et al., 1991 are suggested by a thorax of 10 tergites, with progressive elongation of the posterior three tergites relative to the seven anterior tergites of subequal length—this elongation representing the dorsoventral decoupling of biramous appendage pairs and tergites shared by all xandarellids. Discovery of an Australian xandarellid adds more support for biogeographic affinities between East Gondwana and South China in the early Cambrian. UUID: https://zoobank.org/8a0f56ec-6d12-49ee-8ffd-a8dca97df99f