澄江生物群奇虾类的解剖学和定量形态演化研究

Appearing during the Cambrian explosion of metazoans, the anomalocarids played critical roles in the origin and early evolution of arthropods and were the earliest apex predators in marine food webs. The early Cambrian Chengjiang biota from Yunnan, China is the most direct fossil evidence of the Cambrian explosion and has yielded diverse and well-preserved anomalocarid materials that represent one of the oldest anomalocarid fossil records. This project is aimed to study the many precious anomalocarid fossils from the Chengjiang biota, which involves describing and comparing novel taxa and anatomical information from new specimens, revising and supplementing the anomalocarid morphological features, and building a most up-to-date morphological character dataset of anomalocarids. On the basis of this morphological dataset, quantitative methods in paleobiology such as phylogenetic and disparity analyses will then be performed to reconstruct the phylogenetic trees of anomalocarids, to explore the evolutionary mode of anomalocarid morphological disparity, and to analyze the morphological evolutionary history of Cambrian anomalocarids preliminarily. This study is expected to further reveal the morphological structures and taxonomic diversity of anomalocarids from the Chengjiang biota, to update the systematic framework and evolutionary relationships within anomalocarids, and to enrich our understanding of the biological processes in the Cambrian explosion.

后生动物寒武纪大爆发中出现的奇虾类在节肢动物起源和早期演化中扮演关键角色，是海洋食物网中最早的顶级捕食者。我国云南寒武纪早期澄江生物群是寒武纪大爆发最直接的化石证据，产出了多样且保存精美的奇虾类材料，代表了奇虾类最古老的化石记录之一。本项目将以澄江生物群大量珍贵的奇虾类化石为研究对象，描述和比较新发现的属种、新标本的解剖信息，厘定和补充奇虾类的形态特征，构建最新的奇虾类形态性状数据库。在此基础上，采用系统发育分析和形态分异度分析等定量古生物学手段，重建奇虾类的系统发育树，探索奇虾类形态分异度的演化模式，初步分析寒武纪奇虾类的形态演化历史。本研究将进一步揭示澄江生物群奇虾类的形态构造和类群多样性，更新奇虾类内部的系统学框架和演化关系，丰富我们对寒武纪大爆发生物学过程的认识。

寒武纪大爆发中出现的奇虾类在节肢动物起源和早期演化中扮演关键角色，是海洋食物网中最早的顶级捕食者。我国云南寒武纪早期澄江生物群提供了寒武纪大爆发最直接的化石证据，产出了多样且保存精美的奇虾类材料，代表了奇虾类最古老的化石记录之一。本项目以澄江生物群大量珍贵的奇虾类化石为主要研究材料，对寒武纪奇虾类进行系统的形态学和分类学研究。通过精细的化石形态学研究，深入解剖了奇虾类在前附肢、颈部、桨状叶等身体部位的形态构造，系统描述了此前未曾发现的形态特征。论证了奇虾类的前附肢和真节肢动物头部第一对附肢的同源性，提出了节肢动物头部附肢演化的新模型。描述了澄江生物群中的奇虾类一个新属、三个新种，代表了奇虾类中此前尚未识别的新类型，拓展了寒武纪奇虾类的分类多样性，为奇虾类的演化提供了重要参考点。在构建奇虾类形态性状数据库的基础上，采用系统发育分析等定量古生物学手段，重建奇虾类的系统树，更新奇虾类内部的系统发生框架，从而揭露寒武纪奇虾类的形态构造和分类多样性演化历史。发现嵌合型节肢动物麒麟虾同时具有真节肢动物和奇虾类等节肢动物祖先类型的形态特征，填补了奇虾类和真节肢动物之间的巨大演化空白。系统构建了早期节肢动物的形态性状数据库，重建了早期节肢动物的系统树，更新了早期节肢动物演化关系的认识。这些发现丰富了我们对节肢动物起源和早期演化及寒武纪大爆发生物学过程的认识。