A priapulid larva from the middle Cambrian (Wuliuan Stage) of North Greenland (Laurentia)

• A single phosphatised specimen from the middle Cambrian Henson Gletscher Formation (Miaolingian Series, Wuliuan Stage) of North Greenland is interpreted as the hatching larva of a total-group priapulid worm. A plated lorica is not present but probably was developed at a later larval stage, by comparison with the described development of extant Priapulus caudatus and Halicryptus spinulosus. A characteristic priapulid introvert with scalids is not seen but it was likely withdrawn in the available specimen. The new find is consistent with a similar ontogeny in Cambrian priapulid cycloneuralians to that seen in their present day relatives. New taxon: Inuitiphlaskus kouchinskyi gen. et sp. nov.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap -- Geologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences -- Geology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

total-group priapulid

larva

Cambrian

Miaolingian (Wuliuan)

North Greenland

Laurentia

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)