Skip to main content
Log in

Cambrian animals: evolutionary curiosities or the crucible of creation?

  • Published:
Hydrobiologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Opinion This is a series of contributions, expressing explicit opinions with regard to contemporary topics in limnology. These texts will mostly be based on new books with a large impact, but can also refer to other currently debated topics. Suggested topics for opinion articles or documented reactions to published contributions should be sent to the editor-in-chief; they will be considered for publication in subsequent issues.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ayala, F. J., A. Rzhetsky & F. J. Ayala, 1998. Origin of the metazoan phyla: molecular clocks confirm paleontological estimates. Proc. natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 95: 606–611.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bergström, J., 1994. Ideas on early animal evolution. In Bengtson, S.(Ed), Early life on earth. Nobel Symp. No. 84. Columbia Univ. Press. New York: 460–466.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bergström, J. & X-G. Hou, 1998. Chengjiang arthropods and their bearing on early arthropod evolution. In Edgecombe, G. D. (ed.), Arthropod Fossils and Phylogeny. Columbia Univ. Press. New York: 151–184.

    Google Scholar 

  • Briggs, D. E. G., 1978. The morphology, mode of life, and affinities of Canadaspis perfecta (Crustacea: Phyllocarida) Middle Cambrian, Burgess Shale, British Columbia. Phil. Trans. r. Soc., Lond. B 281: 439–487.

    Google Scholar 

  • Briggs, D. E. G. & R. A. Fortey, 1989. The early radiation and relationships of the major arthropod groups. Science 246: 241–243.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bromham, L., A. Rambaut, R. Fortey, A. Cooper & D. Penny, 1998. Testing the Cambrian explosion hypothesis by using a molecular dating technique. Proc. natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 95: 12386–12389.

    Google Scholar 

  • Budd, G., 1993. A Cambrian gilled lobopod from Greenland. Nature 364: 709–711.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen, J-Y., L. Ramsköld & G-Q. Zhou, 1994. Evidence for monophyly and arthropod affinity of Cambrian giant predators. Science 264: 1304–1308.

    Google Scholar 

  • Collins, D., 1996. The'evolution' of Anomalocaris and its classification in the arthropod class Dinocarida (Nov.) and Order Radiodonta (Nov.) J. Paleont. 70: 280–293.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conway Morris, S., 1998. The crucible of creation. The Burgess Shale and the rise of animals. Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford: 242 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edgecombe, G. D. & L. Ramsköld, 1996. Classification of the arthropod Fuxianhuia. Science 272: 747–748.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fedonkin, M. A. & B. M. Waggoner, 1997. The Late Precambrian fossil Kimberella is a mollusc-like bilaterian organism. Nature 388: 865–871.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fryer, G., 1996. Reflections on arthropod evolution. Biol. J. linn. Soc. 58: 1–56.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gould, S. J., 1989.Wonderful life. The Burgess Shale and the nature of history. Hutchinson Radius. London. 347 pp.

  • Hou, X-G. & J. Bergström, 1995. Cambrian lobopodians: ancestors of extant onychophorans? Zool. J. Linn. Soc. 114: 3–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hou, X-G. & J. Bergström, 1997. Arthropods of the Lower Cambrian Chengjiang fauna, southwest China. Fossils Strata, 45: 1–116.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hou, X-G., J. Bergström & P. Ahlberg, 1995. Anomalocaris and other large animals in the Lower Cambrian Chengjang fauna of southwest China. Geol. Foren. Forhand. 117: 163–183.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hou, X-G., D. J. Siveter, M. Williams, D. Walossek & J. Bergström, 1996. An early Cambrian bradoriid arthropod from China with preserved appendages: its bearing on the origin of the Ostracoda. Phil. Trans r. Soc. B 351: 1131–1145.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lynch, M., 1999. The age and relationships of the major animal phyla. Evolution 53: 319–325.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nilsson, D. E. & S. Pelger, 1994. A pessimistic estimate of the time required for an eye to evolve. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 256: 53–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paulus, H. F., 1979. Eye structure and the morphology of the Arthropoda. In Gupta, A. P. (ed.), Arthropod Phylogeny. Van Rostrand Reinhold. New York: 299–383.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramsköld, L. & J. Chen, 1998. Cambrian lobopodians: morphology and phylogeny. In Edgecombe, G. D. (ed.), Arthropod Fossils and Phylogeny. Columbia. Univ. Press: 107–150.

  • Waggoner, B. M., 1996. Phylogenetic hypotheses of the relationships of arthropods to Precambrian and Cambrian problematic fossil taxa. Syst. Biol. 45: 190–222.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walossek, D. & K. J. Müller, 1990. Upper Cambrian stem-lineage crustaceans and their bearing upon the monophyletic origin of Crustacea and the position of Agnostus. Lethaia 23: 409–427.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whittington, H. B., 1981. Rare arthropods from the Burgess Shale, Middle Cambrian, British Columbia. Phil. Trans. r. Soc., Lond. B 292: 329–357.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whittington, H. B., & D. E. G. Briggs, 1985. The largest Cambrian animal, Anomalocaris, Burgess Shale, British Columbia. Phil. Trans. r. Soc. Lond. B 309: 569–609.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wills, M. A., 1996. Classification of the arthropod Fuxianhuia. Science 272: 746–747.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wills, M. A., D. E. G. Briggs & R.A. Fortey, 1994. Disparity as an evolutionary index: a comparison of Cambrian and Recent arthropods. Paleobiology 20: 93–130.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wills, M. A., D. E. G. Briggs, R. A. Fortey & M. Wilkinson, 1995. The significance of fossils in understanding arthropod evolution. Verhandl. dt. zool. Ges. 88: 203–215.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wills, M. A., D. E. G. Briggs, R. A. Fortey, M. Wilkinson & P. H. A. Sneath, 1998. An arthropod phylogeny based on fossil and recent taxa. In Edgecombe, G. D. (ed.), Arthropod Fossils and Phylogeny. Columbia. Univ. Press: 31–105.

  • Wray, G. A., J. S. Levinton & L. H. Shapiro, 1996. Molecular evidence for deep Precambrian divergences among metazoan phyla. Science 274: 568–573.

    Google Scholar 

  • Xiao, S., Y. Zhang & A. H. Knoll, 1998. Three-dimensional preservation of algae and animal embryos in a Neoproterozoic phosphorite. Nature 391: 553–558.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Fryer, G. Cambrian animals: evolutionary curiosities or the crucible of creation?. Hydrobiologia 403, 1–11 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1003799411987

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1003799411987

Keywords

Navigation