Archaeopriapulida

Archaeopriapulida is a group of priapulid worms known from Cambrian lagerstätte. The group is closely related to, and very similar to, the modern priapulids. It is unclear whether it is mono- or polyphyletic. Despite a remarkable morphological similarity to their modern cousins, they fall outside of the priapulid crown group, which is not unambiguously represented in the fossil record until the Carboniferous. In addition to well-preserved body fossils, remains of several archaeopriapulid taxa are known to have been preserved primarily as organic microfossils, such as isolated scalids and pharyngeal teeth. They are probably closely related or paraphyletic to the palaeoscolecids; the relationship between these basal worms is somewhat unresolved.

Archaeopriapulida

Smokeybjb · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
PriapulidaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Priapulida
Life habit
shallow infaunalPBDB, for Priapulida
Motility
facultatively mobilePBDB, for Priapulida
Vision
blindPBDB, for Priapulida

Time the record covers

At least 46 million years on record.

The record covers at least 516 Mya to 469.4 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 538.8 Mya to 458.2 Mya.

Cambrian — about 53 of 55 occurrencesCambrianOrdovician — about 2 of 55 occurrencesOrdovician540–538 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences538–535 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences535–532 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences532–529 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences529–526 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences526–524 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences524–521 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences521–518 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences518–515 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences515–512 Mya — about 2 occurrences512–510 Mya — about 2 occurrences510–507 Mya — about 25 occurrences507–504 Mya — about 16 occurrences504–501 Mya — about 2 occurrences501–499 Mya — about 3 occurrences499–496 Mya — about 2 occurrences479–476 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences476–473 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences473–471 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences471–468 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences468–465 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences465–462 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences462–459 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences459–457 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences516 Mya469.4 Mya540 Mya457 Mya

55 occurrences of Archaeopriapulida on record, most of them in the Cambrian. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

55 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

13 formations

Burgess Shale — 51.44°N, 116.47°WBurgess Shale — 51.03°N, 115.83°WBurgess Shale — 51.38°N, 116.43°WMarjum — 39.00°N, 113.00°WMarjum — 39.27°N, 113.31°WDuchesnay — 51.10°N, 115.95°WDuchesnay — 50.63°N, 115.60°WKinzers — 40.04°N, 76.31°WKinzers — 40.09°N, 76.35°WKaili — 27.00°N, 107.00°EPioche Shale — 37.92°N, 114.61°WPioche — 37.80°N, 114.57°WBuen — 82.63°N, 32.50°WMadaoyu — 28.78°N, 109.84°EGilwern Volcanic — 52.24°N, 3.38°WWeeks — 39.22°N, 113.40°WParker — 44.73°N, 73.15°WPika — 53.20°N, 119.15°W

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The named rock units Archaeopriapulida has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Archaeopriapulida and its relatives

Cambrian

Where Archaeopriapulida and its relatives were recorded in the Cambrian.

Found in the same rock

439 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 37 sites for Archaeopriapulida, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

14 references

Each of the 55 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 2 further references are not listed. Each entry links to doi.org. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Archaeopriapulida

Credit
Smokeybjb
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Archaeopriapulida was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itPriapulida through timeFormations of the CambrianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Conway Morris 1977