ArticleScientific reports2016
Preservation and phylogeny of Cambrian ecdysozoans tested by experimental decay of Priapulus.
Article in Scientific reports, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers.
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24 citing papers in PubMed.
- Molecular Solution to the Paradox of Ancient Brain Preservation.Journal of proteome research · 2026Article
- Experimental taphonomy of marine algae and cyanobacteria reveals the decoupling of morphological and chemical decay patterns.iScience · 2025Article
- New observation onRoyal Society open science · 2025Article
- Taxon-specific redox conditions control fossilisation pathways.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Preservation and early evolution of scalidophoran ventral nerve cord.Science advances · 2025Article
- Kaolinite induces rapid authigenic mineralisation in unburied shrimps.Communications earth & environment · 2025Article
- The effects of clays on bacterial community composition during arthropod decay.Swiss journal of palaeontology · 2024Article
- Annelids from the Cambrian (Wuliuan Stage, Miaolingian) Spence Shale Lagerstätte of northern Utah, USA.Historical biology · 2024Article
- Musculature of an Early Cambrian cycloneuralian animal.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Variations in preservation of exceptional fossils within concretions.Swiss journal of palaeontology · 2023Article
- Internal anatomy of a fossilized embryonic stage of the Cambrian-Ordovician scalidophoranRoyal Society open science · 2022Article
- Phylogenetic Signal and Bias in Paleontology.Systematic biology · 2022Article
- Probability-based preservational variations within the early Cambrian Chengjiang biota (China).PeerJ · 2022Article
- Cambrian comb jellies from Utah illuminate the early evolution of nervous and sensory systems in ctenophores.iScience · 2021Article
- Ancestral morphology of Ecdysozoa constrained by an early Cambrian stem group ecdysozoan.BMC evolutionary biology · 2020Article
- Proclivity of nervous system preservation in Cambrian Burgess Shale-type deposits.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2019Article
- An Orthologue of the Retinoic Acid Receptor (RAR) Is Present in the Ecdysozoa Phylum Priapulida.Genes · 2019Article
- Article
- Origin of ecdysis: fossil evidence from 535-million-year-old scalidophoran worms.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2019Article
- Microbial decay analysis challenges interpretation of putative organ systems in Cambrian fuxianhuiids.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2018Article
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Abstract
The exceptionally preserved Cambrian fossil record provides unique insight into the early evolutionary history of animals. Understanding of the mechanisms of exceptional soft tissue preservation frames all interpretations of the fauna and its evolutionary significance. This is especially true for recent interpretations of preserved nervous tissues in fossil ecdysozoans. However, models of soft tissue preservation lack empirical support from actualistic studies. Here experimental decay of the priapulid Priapulus reveal consistent bias towards rapid loss of internal non-cuticular anatomy compared with recalcitrant cuticular anatomy. This is consistent with models of Burgess Shale-type preservation and indicates that internal tissues are unlikely to be preserved with fidelity if organically preserved. This pattern, along with extreme body margin distortion, is consistent with onychophoran decay, and is therefore resolved as general for early ecdysozoans. Application of these patterns to phylogenetic data finds scalidophoran taxa to be very sensitive to taphonomically informed character coding, but not panarthropodan taxa. Priapulid decay also have unexpected relevance for interpretation of myomeres in fossil chordates. The decay data presented serve not only as a test of models of preservation but also a framework with which to interpret ecdysozoan fossil anatomies, and the subsequent evolutionary inferences drawn from them.
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