Jy. Chen et al., A NEW EARLY CAMBRIAN ONYCHOPHORAN-LIKE ANIMAL, PAUCIPODIA GEN-NOV, FROM THE CHENGJIANG FAUNA, CHINA, Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Earth sciences, 85, 1995, pp. 275-282
An onychophoran-like fossil animal, Paucipodia inermis gen. et sp. nov
., is described from the Lower Cambrian Chengjiang lagerstatte in Yunn
an, China. The animal was soft-bodied, and possessed six pairs of unjo
inted legs, each having two claws distally. The body was finely annula
ted, lacked trunk plates, and apparently terminated posteriorly with t
he last leg pair, without preserved evidence of a posterior trunk exte
nsion. Paucipodia widens the morphological range hitherto known in Cam
brian lobopodians, notably regarding leg number and presence or absenc
e of plates. Its morphology also provides support for the recently sug
gested anteroposterior orientation of Hallucigenia and Microdictyon.