At 23:00 Beijing Time on June 3, the journal Nature published a full-length online paper titled High-fidelity preserved modular skeletons confirm the Early Cambrian origin of Bryozoa, a latest research achievement of the group led by Professor Zhang Zhifei from the Early Life Research Team of Northwest University. The team discovered a batch of miniature Bryozoa fossils with intact mineralized skeletons and in-situ soft tissues in the Xiannongdong Formation, an Early Cambrian stratum in Hanzhong. The discovery proves that Bryozoa emerged in the Early Cambrian and provides new clues for studying the origin and mineralization of this animal phylum.
Song Baopeng, a doctoral student from the Department of Geology of Northwest University, is the first author, and Professor Zhang Zhifei is the corresponding author. Northwest University acts as the first and corresponding institution. The Sino-foreign collaborating parties include Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, CAS, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Uppsala University, University of Hamburg, Macquarie University and Utrecht University.
