寒武纪展示了生物演化和生态创新最为关键的一段历史, 在此期间发生了后生动物快速的辐射性演化事件, 被称为“寒武纪大爆发”。近四十年来, 基于寒武纪特异埋藏生物群的大量研究为解密寒武纪大爆发具体过程、主要动物类群起源与生态演化作出了重要贡献。贵州素有古生物王国之称, 在寒武系地层中不仅保存了大量解剖学细节精美的化石资源, 也在多个地区产出时间连续的生物组合演化序列, 在探讨动物起源与演化、全球地层对比及群落古生态学等方面具有极其重要的科研价值。近年来, 以小壳动物群、牛蹄塘生物群、杷榔生物群、剑河生物群、凯里生物群等多个生物群在贵州的发现提供了早期后生生物的新信息, 加密了中国乃至全球早期后生生物特异埋藏化石群的演化链, 为全面揭示寒武纪生物群落面貌、早期多门类后生动物的辐射演化和海洋生物群落演替提供了独特的意义, 最终为深入解读寒武纪大爆发的过程与发生机制提供重要实证。本文简要总结了贵州地区在该领域的主要学术贡献, 结合全球研究进展, 对目前存在的问题和未来研究方向提出展望。

The Cambrian period represents a pivotal time interval in evolution and ecological innovations, characterized by the rapid diversification of metazoans and known as the Cambrian Explosion. During the past forty years, extensive research based on Cambrian Lagerst?tten has significantly contributed to revealing the detailed processes of the Cambrian Explosion, the origins of major animal phyla, and ecological evolution. Guizhou, known as the mecca of palaeontology, not only has yielded abundant exquisite fossils, but also presents a continuous evolutionary sequence of the fossil assemblages across various regions. This is of great importance for studying animal origins and evolution, global stratigraphic correlation, and community paleoecology. In recent years, the discoveries of several biotas, such as the Small Shelly Fossils faunas and the Niutitang, Balang, Jianhe and Kaili biotas, have provided new insights into early metazoans. These discoveries have provided evidences for the missing links of the evolutionary chain of Konservat-Lagerst?tten in China and even worldwide. They offer unique perspectives for revealing the community structures, the diversification process of early metazoans, and the succession of marine communities. Finally, these discoveries provide crucial evidences for a deeper understanding of the processes and mechanisms of the Cambrian Explosion. This paper briefly summarizes the major contributions to palaeontology of researchers from Guizhou Province. In conjunction with global research progress on palaeontology, the authors also discuss current issues and future research directions in this field.

国家自然科学基金(42262003, 42330209, 41962002)和贵州省科技计划项目(黔科合支撑[2020]4Y241)联合资助