MUSEUM QUALITY Yunnanozoon Chordate Precursor

Description: The highlight of this diminutive fossil plaque, Yunnanozoon lividum, has been designated as the earliest known hemichordate. Possessing many of the characteristic chordate features and providing an anatomical link between invertebrates and chordates, the Hemichordata is a minor but important phylum in evolutionary biology. It at one point Yunnanozoon was thought to be a member of the Phylum Chordata, but has been reassigned as mentioned above. This one comes from the Chengjiang deposits near Anning, Yunnan Province, China. As the earliest of the hemichordates, its study casts light upon the early evolution of both the chordates and the vertebrates that sprung from them as the story of life unfolded.

Also see: Chengjiang Biota Fauna List Chengjiang Fossils