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Myllokunmingia

 

 
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Myllokunmingia
 
 
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Myllokunmingia is a primitive, probably agnathid, jawless fish
Fish

A fish is any marine biology vertebrate animal that is typically ectothermic , covered with scale , and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins....
 from the Lower Cambrian
Cambrian

The Cambrian is a geologic period that began about Mya at the end of the Proterozoic eon and ended about Ma with the beginning of the Ordovician period ....
 Maotianshan shales
Maotianshan shales

The Maotianshan Shales area a series of lower Cambrian deposits, famous for their Lagerst?tten. They take their name from Maotianshan Hill in Chengjiang County, Yunnan Province, China....
 of China
China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
, thought to be a vertebrate
Vertebrate

Vertebrates are members of the subphylum Vertebrata, chordates with Vertebras or Vertebral columns. The grouping sometimes includes the hagfish, which have no vertebrae, but are genetically quite closely related to lampreys, which do have vertebrae....
, although this is not conclusively proven. It somewhat resembles modern hagfish
Hagfish

Hagfish are marine craniates of the class Myxini, also known as Hyperotreti. Myxini is the only class in the clade Craniata that does not also belong to the phylum Vertebrata....
, and is 28 mm long and 6 mm high.

It is the oldest vertebrate known, found in the lower Cambrian Chengjiang . It appears to have a skull
Skull

The skull is a bone structure found in the head of many animals. The skull supports the structures of the face and protects the head against injury....
 and skeletal structures made of cartilage
Cartilage

Cartilage is a type of dense connective tissue. It is composed of specialized cells called chondrocyte that produce a large amount of extracellular matrix composed of collagen fibers, abundant ground substance rich in proteoglycan, and elastin fibers....
 (like lamprey
Lamprey

A lamprey is a parasitic marine animal with a toothed, funnel-like sucking mouth. While lampreys are well known for those species which bore into the flesh of other fish to hematophagy, these species make up the minority....
s, which are also vertebrates).






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Myllokunmingia is a primitive, probably agnathid, jawless fish
Fish

A fish is any marine biology vertebrate animal that is typically ectothermic , covered with scale , and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins....
 from the Lower Cambrian
Cambrian

The Cambrian is a geologic period that began about Mya at the end of the Proterozoic eon and ended about Ma with the beginning of the Ordovician period ....
 Maotianshan shales
Maotianshan shales

The Maotianshan Shales area a series of lower Cambrian deposits, famous for their Lagerst?tten. They take their name from Maotianshan Hill in Chengjiang County, Yunnan Province, China....
 of China
China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
, thought to be a vertebrate
Vertebrate

Vertebrates are members of the subphylum Vertebrata, chordates with Vertebras or Vertebral columns. The grouping sometimes includes the hagfish, which have no vertebrae, but are genetically quite closely related to lampreys, which do have vertebrae....
, although this is not conclusively proven. It somewhat resembles modern hagfish
Hagfish

Hagfish are marine craniates of the class Myxini, also known as Hyperotreti. Myxini is the only class in the clade Craniata that does not also belong to the phylum Vertebrata....
, and is 28 mm long and 6 mm high.

It is the oldest vertebrate known, found in the lower Cambrian Chengjiang . It appears to have a skull
Skull

The skull is a bone structure found in the head of many animals. The skull supports the structures of the face and protects the head against injury....
 and skeletal structures made of cartilage
Cartilage

Cartilage is a type of dense connective tissue. It is composed of specialized cells called chondrocyte that produce a large amount of extracellular matrix composed of collagen fibers, abundant ground substance rich in proteoglycan, and elastin fibers....
 (like lamprey
Lamprey

A lamprey is a parasitic marine animal with a toothed, funnel-like sucking mouth. While lampreys are well known for those species which bore into the flesh of other fish to hematophagy, these species make up the minority....
s, which are also vertebrates). There is no sign of mineralization
Mineralization

* In biology and chemistry, Mineralization is the process where a substance is converted from an organic substance to an inorganic substance, thereby becoming mineralized....
 of the skeletal elements (biomineralization).

The holotype
Holotype

A holotype is one of several possible biological types. A type is what fixes a name to a taxon. A holotype is a single physical example of an organism, known to have been used when the species was formally described....
 was found in the Yuanshan member of the Qiongzhusi Formation in the Eoredlichia Zone near Haikou at Ercaicun, Kunming City
Kunming

Kunming is a prefecture-level city and capital of Yunnan province, in southwestern China. Because of its year-round temperate climate, Kunming is often called the "Spring City" or "City of Eternal Spring" ....
, Yunnan
Yunnan

is a political divisions of China of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately 394,000 square kilometers ....
, China. The animal has a distinct head and trunk with a forward sail-like (1.5 mm) dorsal fin
Dorsal fin

A wikt:dorsal fin is a fin located on the backs of some fish, whales, dolphins, and porpoises, as well as the ichthyosaurs. Its main purpose is to stabilize the animal against rolling and assist in sudden turns....
 and a ventral fin fold (probably paired) further back. The head has five or six gill
Gill

A gill is an anatomical structure found in many aquatic ecosystem organisms. It is a respiration organ whose function is the extraction of oxygen from water and the excretion of carbon dioxide....
 pouches with hemibranchs. There are 25 segments (myomeres) with rearward chevrons in the trunk. There is a notochord
Notochord

The notochord is a flexible, rod-shaped body found in embryos of all chordates. It is composed of cell s derived from the mesoderm and defines the primitive axis of the embryo....
, a pharynx
Pharynx

FunctionsThe pharynx is part of the digestive system and respiratory system of many organisms.Because both food and Earth's atmosphere pass through the pharynx, a flap of connective tissue called the epiglottis closes over the trachea when food is swallowed to prevent choking or Pulmonary aspiration....
 and digestive tract that may run all the way to the rear tip of the animal. The mouth cannot be clearly identified. There may be a pericardic cavity. There are no fin radials. There is only one specimen, which has the tip of the tail buried in sediment
Sediment

Sediment is any particulate matter that can be sediment transport by fluid dynamics, and which eventually is deposited.Sediments are most often transported by water transported by wind and glaciers....
.

There is one species - Myllokunmingia fengjiaoa (Shu, Zhang & Han).

Related creatures from these shales include Haikouichthys
Haikouichthys

Haikouichthys is an extinct genus of Craniata believed to have lived c. 530 million years ago, during the Cambrian explosion. Haikouichthys had a defined skull and other characteristics that have led paleontology to label it a true craniate, but it does not possess sufficient features to be included uncontroversially even in the stem gro...
 and Zhongjianichthys. Suspected hemichordates are also known from these deposits.


See also

  • Haikouella
    Haikouella

    Haikouella is a probable chordata from the Lower Cambrian Maotianshan shales of Chengjiang County in Yunnan Province, China.It is similar to the form Yunnanozoon, which is almost somewhat more primitive and is possibly a hemichordata....


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