Yilingia spiciformis was a worm-like animal that lived approximately between 551 million and 539 million years ago in the Ediacaran period, around 10 million years before the Cambrian explosion. A fossil of this creature and its tracks were discovered in 2019 in Southern China.[1] It was a segmented bilaterian, conceivably related to panarthropods or annelids. It is a rare example of a complex Ediacaran animal that is similar to animals that existed since the Cambrian, hence suggesting that perhaps the Cambrian explosion was less sudden than often assumed.
| Yilingia Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Genus: | †Yilingia |
| Species: | †Y. spiciformis
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Yilingia spiciformis Chen et al. 2019
| |
Fossils of around 35 specimens were found. The creature appears to be metameric, with each metamere having three lobes, like later trilobites.[2] The fossils make Yilingia the oldest known animal to be capable of making decisions and moving on its own.[3]
References
- ^ Chen, Zhe; Zhou, Chuanming; Yuan, Xunlai; Xiao, Shuhai (2019). "Death march of a segmented and trilobate bilaterian elucidates early animal evolution". Nature. 573 (7774): 412–415. doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1522-7. PMID 31485079.
- ^ "Ancient wormlike animal caught in its tracks sheds light on early locomotion". 2019-09-03.
- ^ A 550-million-year-old worm was one of the first animals to move and make decisions, a new study says