Accumulated records of organic microfossils span billions of years of Earth history. The
majority of this record consists of prokaryotes plus eukaryotes of a protistan grade, yet this …

The interrelationships and evolutionary history of molluscs have seen great advances in the
last decade. Recent phylogenetic studies have allowed alternative morphology‐based …

Molluscs comprise the second largest phylum of animals (after arthropods), occurring in
virtually all habitats. Some are commercially important, a few are pests and some carry …

Waptia fieldensis Walcott, 1912 is one of the iconic animals from the middle Cambrian
Burgess Shale biota that had lacked a formal description since its discovery at the beginning …

Gnathobasic spines are located on the protopodal segments of the appendages of various
euarthropod taxa, notably chelicerates. Although they are used to crush shells and masticate …

Temporal collinearity is often considered the main force preserving Hox gene clusters in
animal genomes. Studies that combine genomic and gene expression data are scarce …

The paper gives an overview of the modern hypotheses on the origin of the phylum Mollusca
and the formation of its main classes. The Cambrian stage of molluscan evolution is …

Despite many major advances in recent years, three key challenges remain in bringing
clarity to the early history of the phylum:(1) identifying the origin, morphology and life modes …

The stem‐group priapulid Ottoia Walcott, 1911, is the most abundant worm in the mid‐
Cambrian Burgess Shale, but has not been unambiguously demonstrated elsewhere. High …

Abstract The Spence Shale Lagerstätte is a middle Cambrian (Miaolingian Series; Wuliuan
Stage) fossil deposit in northern Utah and southern Idaho, USA. At present, it is known to …