Sea Anemones Of Chengjiang Lagerst(?)tte In Lower Cambrian, Yunnan

The most coelenterate fossils preserved in post-Cambrian are Anthozoan with calcareous skeleton. Although there are reports that the coelenterate fossils have found in pre-Cambrian, those fossils are not as same as ones in the the Paleozoic Era, not because of morphology but also anatomy. Thus, it is controversial to attribute those fossils in pre-Cambrian to the ancient of coelenterate.Chengjiang Lagerstatte is famous in soft-bodies fossil of many phyla, where are large numbers of sea anemones which are on behalf of coelenterate in it. The elegant fossils with lavish messages which are non-skeletal are excellent materials to learn about Cambrian explosion, especially the origin and early evolution of coelentera.The sea anemone comprise a total of 4 genera and species, of which the three articulate sea anemone Mafangia latior genet sp. nov.; Venusopiriformis pilosus genet sp. nov.; Erectofusus minutus genet sp. nov. are new.Mafangia latior genet sp. nov. is small short cylinder. The ratio of length to width is about 2.4. The body is consisted of capitulum, column and base. There are about 8 tentacles in the capitulum from inner base. The tentacles are different because the position where they are, like base-tentacles, mid-tentacles and top-tentacles. The pinnate structures of those tentacles are from thin to thick until the top-tentacle became inflated. The column is non-skeletal where there are 16 ridges because of compaction in it. Base is a stabile organ without structures.Venusopiriformis pilosus genet sp. nov. is pyriform. The dominant difference from Xianguangia is there are 8 separate tentacles with typically pinnate structures distally in it. The pinnate structure is consisted of two parts, rachis and branches. The diameter of the rachis stay the same. The branches on the left and right are symmetrical. The length of every branch is about 0.5mm.Erectofusus minutus genet sp. nov. is fusiform. They are small, and the length is less than 10mm. there are two parts of the body, base and capitulum. The joint of these two parts is the widest. From then, the body is thinner increasingly. The bottom of base is sharper, and the top of the capitulum is narrower than lmm. The top of the homothetic triangle cavity in base is opened. There are about 16 tentacles around the mouth. The tentacle is dividing two when it is growing.Mafangia latior genet sp. nov. and Erectofusus minutus genet sp. nov. are from Subclass Octocorallia, and Venusopiriformis pilosus genet sp. nov. is from Subclass Zoantharia. All of them are recognized as representatives of early Anthozoa.