The Cambrian Explosion — fossil evidences from Guizhou
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Abstract:
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.
