RESEARCH PROGRESS AND PROSPECT ON THE EARLY CAMBRIAN YANJIAHE BIOTA

The origin and evolution of animals and Cambrian Explosion from the Ediacaran to Cambrian transition interval are of hot research interest to paleontologists worldwide.However,the evolutionary relationship among small shelly fossils of early Cambrian,fossil community of late Precambrian,Chengjiang fossil lagerst?tte of early Cambrian are major challenges in the field of paleontology,which is largely due to the absence of macrofossils coexisting with the small shelly fossils in early Cambrian.The early Cambrian Yanjiahe biota bridges this gap in that this biota consists of macroscopic metazoans,macroalgae,small shelly fossils,spheroidal fossils(putative embryos),acritarchs and cyanobacteria. Some macrofossils exhibit characters of a transitional fauna from Ediacaran to Cambrian.These fossils show different preservation modes as diverse as organic carbonaceous film, phosphatization,pyrite,or siliceous remains.In this context,a systematic investigation into the biodiversity and taphonomy of the Yanjiahe biota can provide insights into the paleobiological community from shelf-sea carbonate platform facies to a local depression in the platform in the Meishucun Age,and can as well shed light on the biodiversification and evolutionary patterns during the onset of the Cambrian Explosion.

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