Biology:Cotyledion

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Cotyledion tylodes is an extinct, stalked filter-feeder known from the Chengjiang lagerstatten. The living animal reached a couple of centimetres in height, and bore a loose scleritome of ovoid sclerites. Its interpretation has been controversial, but it is currently thought to be a member of the Entoprocta stem group.[1]

History of identification

C. tylodes was initially tentatively classified as a stem group echinoderm in 1996, and then a lophophorate in 2002.[1] Lophphorate affinities were challenged as based on taphonomic artifacts in a 2010 paper that suggested a cnidarian affinity based on cylyndrical symmetry as an ancestral body plan for that group.[2]

A more recent alternative proposal suggested a relationship with the Cambroernida, a group of early deuterostomes.[3] However, a later comprehensive paper on cambroernids did not include Cotyledion.[4]

A comprehensive 2013 study of around 400 new specimens provided stronger support for a lophophorate affinity, specifically allied with the entoprocts.[1] The clear presence of a U-shaped gut in the new specimens contradicts placement among the cnidarians, while the lack of bifurcation in the crown of tentacles makes affinity with the deuterostomes unlikely.[5] A recent review of echinoderm origins again refuted the placement of Cotyledion with that group, agreeing with its identity as a stem entoproct.[6]

See also

References

Works cited

Wikidata ☰ Q5175899 entry