Science Finds Earliest Deuterostome Fossils in China
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- Science published the study "The dawn of the Phanerozoic..." in 2026, reporting a transitional fauna from the late Ediacaran of Southwest China.
- Gaorong Li led the fieldwork in Eastern Yunnan and uncovered a previously unknown "bugle worm" (Cycliomedusa) with a proboscis and anchoring disk, revealing a complex animal from the Ediacaran.
- Jiangchuan biota yielded fossils that combine features of both Ediacaran and Cambrian organisms, including a primitive Mackenzia‑like animal, various worms, and ctenophores.
- Deuterostomes were identified among the specimens, showing stalks and tentacles similar to Cambrian cambroernids, establishing the earliest known members of the lineage that includes humans, starfish, and acorn worms.
- University of Oxford researchers joined the project in 2024, helping to piece together the new fossil community and confirm the presence of Cambrian‑like taxa in the late Ediacaran.
- Cambrian explosion timing (≈538 mya) is now understood to have been preceded by a longer period of diverse, complex animal life, as the Jiangchuan fossils demonstrate.
Why it matters: Paleontologists gain concrete evidence that deuterostome lineages originated in the Ediacaran, forcing a revision of evolutionary timelines and challenging the view that complex animals appeared abruptly during the Cambrian explosion; this reshapes research priorities and fossil‑search strategies for early animal history.
