Pywackia

Pywackia; Temporal range: Late Cambrian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
	Artist's restoration
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	incertae sedis
Genus:	†Pywackia
Species:	†P. baileyi
Binomial name
	†Pywackia baileyi; Landing in Landing et al., 2010

Pywackia is a contentious Cambrian fossil that has been interpreted as the earliest (total group) Bryozoan, and the only representative of that phylum in the Cambrian period.^[1] Its Bryozoan credentials have been called into question,^[2] but the octocoral alternative is equally unconvincing, and there are reasons to suggest a position in the Stenolaemata stem lineage.^[3]

References[]

^ Landing, E.; English, A.; Keppie, J. D. (2010). "Cambrian origin of all skeletalized metazoan phyla--Discovery of Earth's oldest bryozoans (Upper Cambrian, southern Mexico)". Geology. 38 (6): 547. doi:10.1130/G30870.1.
^ Taylor, P. D.; Berning, B. R.; Wilson, M. A. (2013). "Reinterpretation of the Cambrian 'Bryozoan' Pywackia as an Octocoral". Journal of Paleontology. 87 (6): 984. doi:10.1666/13-029.
^ Ed Landing, Jonathan B. Antcliffe, Martin D. Brasier, Adam B. English (2015). "Distinguishing Earth's oldest known bryozoan (Pywackia, late Cambrian) from pennatulacean octocorals (Mesozoic—Recent)". Journal of Paleontology. 89 (2): 292–317. doi:10.1017/jpa.2014.26.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)

[1] Landing, E.; English, A.; Keppie, J. D. (2010). "Cambrian origin of all skeletalized metazoan phyla--Discovery of Earth's oldest bryozoans (Upper Cambrian, southern Mexico)". Geology. 38 (6): 547. doi:10.1130/G30870.1.

[2] Taylor, P. D.; Berning, B. R.; Wilson, M. A. (2013). "Reinterpretation of the Cambrian 'Bryozoan' Pywackia as an Octocoral". Journal of Paleontology. 87 (6): 984. doi:10.1666/13-029.

[3] Ed Landing, Jonathan B. Antcliffe, Martin D. Brasier, Adam B. English (2015). "Distinguishing Earth's oldest known bryozoan (Pywackia, late Cambrian) from pennatulacean octocorals (Mesozoic—Recent)". Journal of Paleontology. 89 (2): 292–317. doi:10.1017/jpa.2014.26.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)

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