c.530 million years ago, Yunnan Province, People's Republic
of China
Above the ancient seabed, an Anomalocaris pounces on its smaller cousin, Opabinia. The commotion causes schools of tiny early fish and crustaceans to veer off in terror.
The Chengjiang Fauna of Yunnan Province is a truly spectacular assemblage of Early Cambrian fossils that predates the better known Burgess Shale of Canada by about 15 million years. These two fossil motherlodes provide a snapshot into the titanic diversification of life at the dawn of the Paleozoic Era, the so called "Cambrian Explosion". Both sites share many genera such as the famous Anomalocaris and Hallucigenia, however the preservation of soft-tissue at Chengjiang is greatly superior to that of Burgess which at least partly accounts for some of the bizarre worms and early chordates that have only been found at the Chinese site.
Bestiary
Opabinia sp. - the blue creature about to become lunch. A five-eyed weirdo with hose-mounted pincers, better known from Burgess Shale fossils but present at Chengjiang as well.
Anomalocaris saron - the big mother with the red pincers. Anomalocaris and its dinocarid kin were the world's first super-predators, creatures several orders of magnitude bigger and meaner than any of their contemporaries. Dinocarids were armed with two big pincers and a weird, circular mouth that looked like a slice of pineapple (it’s under the head so you can’t see it in the picture). The Chinese Anomalocaris saron differed from its better publicised North American cousin A. canadensis in being much smaller with fewer paddles and in having 2 long filaments sticking out of its bum (er...telson).
Eoredlichia intermedia - red bug things rooting around on the sand. Eoredlichia was a fairly typical early trilobite.
Canadaspis laevigata - yellow shrimp things. One of the earliest malacostracans, the group that includes modern crabs, lobsters and prawns. Except for the ends of it’s tail and antennae, it’s body was covered by a taco-like carapace. Each of its legs possessed a little membranous-fin that allowed it to swim through the water. You can guess by its name that Canadaspis is also present in the Candian Burgess Shales, as the larger C. perfecta .
Haikouichthys ercaicunensis - the little leech-like fishies. This and similar forms from Chengjiang represent the earliest evidence we have for the Chordata - some would go as far as to call it a true vertebrate. Even at this early stage, Haikouichthys already had well-developed eyes, a nostril and a dorsal fin supported by fin-rays. Jaws and teeth were many millions of years away however. Haikouichthys was described in 1999 on the basis of a single, incomplete specimen. More than 500 specimens of this animal were subsequently discovered in a single fossil locaility making this one of the best known early chordates.
Note that Haikouichthys is both much older and considerably more advanced than the Burgess Shale Pikaia who has become entrenched in popular literature as "the world's oldest chordate".
Leptomitis teretiusculus - tubular sponges growing in the background
Yuknessia simplex - the seaweed. A type of green algae that produced clumps of hair-like fronds.
This image was created for the upcoming "The Big Picture Book" (Allen & Unwin, 2005)
Back to main page
Art and text © Brian Choo 2004
Above the ancient seabed, an Anomalocaris pounces on its smaller cousin, Opabinia. The commotion causes schools of tiny early fish and crustaceans to veer off in terror.
The Chengjiang Fauna of Yunnan Province is a truly spectacular assemblage of Early Cambrian fossils that predates the better known Burgess Shale of Canada by about 15 million years. These two fossil motherlodes provide a snapshot into the titanic diversification of life at the dawn of the Paleozoic Era, the so called "Cambrian Explosion". Both sites share many genera such as the famous Anomalocaris and Hallucigenia, however the preservation of soft-tissue at Chengjiang is greatly superior to that of Burgess which at least partly accounts for some of the bizarre worms and early chordates that have only been found at the Chinese site.
Bestiary
Opabinia sp. - the blue creature about to become lunch. A five-eyed weirdo with hose-mounted pincers, better known from Burgess Shale fossils but present at Chengjiang as well.
Anomalocaris saron - the big mother with the red pincers. Anomalocaris and its dinocarid kin were the world's first super-predators, creatures several orders of magnitude bigger and meaner than any of their contemporaries. Dinocarids were armed with two big pincers and a weird, circular mouth that looked like a slice of pineapple (it’s under the head so you can’t see it in the picture). The Chinese Anomalocaris saron differed from its better publicised North American cousin A. canadensis in being much smaller with fewer paddles and in having 2 long filaments sticking out of its bum (er...telson).
Eoredlichia intermedia - red bug things rooting around on the sand. Eoredlichia was a fairly typical early trilobite.
Canadaspis laevigata - yellow shrimp things. One of the earliest malacostracans, the group that includes modern crabs, lobsters and prawns. Except for the ends of it’s tail and antennae, it’s body was covered by a taco-like carapace. Each of its legs possessed a little membranous-fin that allowed it to swim through the water. You can guess by its name that Canadaspis is also present in the Candian Burgess Shales, as the larger C. perfecta .
Haikouichthys ercaicunensis - the little leech-like fishies. This and similar forms from Chengjiang represent the earliest evidence we have for the Chordata - some would go as far as to call it a true vertebrate. Even at this early stage, Haikouichthys already had well-developed eyes, a nostril and a dorsal fin supported by fin-rays. Jaws and teeth were many millions of years away however. Haikouichthys was described in 1999 on the basis of a single, incomplete specimen. More than 500 specimens of this animal were subsequently discovered in a single fossil locaility making this one of the best known early chordates.
Note that Haikouichthys is both much older and considerably more advanced than the Burgess Shale Pikaia who has become entrenched in popular literature as "the world's oldest chordate".
Leptomitis teretiusculus - tubular sponges growing in the background
Yuknessia simplex - the seaweed. A type of green algae that produced clumps of hair-like fronds.
This image was created for the upcoming "The Big Picture Book" (Allen & Unwin, 2005)
Back to main pageArt and text © Brian Choo 2004