The robust spines and sclerites of the early to middle Cambrian ‘mollusc’ Wiwaxia are ubiquitous in suitably preserved deposits, but are strikingly absent from the Chengjiang Lagerstätte (Cambrian Stage 3, Yunnan Province, SW China). Recently, Dr. ZHAO Fangchen and colleagues from Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, with Dr. Smith Martin from Cambridge University, report the first record of Wiwaxia sclerites from the Chengjiang deposit, published in Geological Magazine, extending the record of the genus to the earliest Cambrian Series 2. This reinforces the cosmopolitan distribution of this iconic Cambrian lophotrochozoan and demonstrates the strong faunal continuity that unites distant Cambrian Lagerstätten.

This research was supported by Chinese Academy of Sciences, National Basic Research Program of China and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

Related information of this paper: Zhao, F.*, Smith, M. R., Yin, Z., Zeng, H., Hu, S., Li, G., Zhu, M., 2015. First report of Wiwaxia from the Cambrian Chengjiang Lagerstätte. Geological Magazine, 152 (2): 378–382.

Sclerites of Wiwaxia. (a–d) from the lower Cambrian Chengjiang biota, and (e) from the middle Cambrian Burgess Shale biota

Distribution of Wiwaxia. (a) Stratigraphic distribution. (b) Palaeogeographic distribution