Eolympia (meaning "dawn (Greek word ‘eos’) + Olympic games") is interpreted as an extinct monospecific genus of sea anemone which existed in what is now Ningqiang, Shaanxi Province, China during the lower Cambrian period (Fortunian Stage of the Terreneuvian Series - the lower unit of the Lower Cambrian). Its fossils have been recovered from the Kuanchuanpu Formation. The pedicle (after which E. pediculata is named) is long, suggesting the animal engaged in sexual intercourse, though marked perforations imply that reproduction by transverse fission was also quite likely as a more primitive backup.[1]
| Eolympia Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Cnidaria |
| Class: | Hexacorallia |
| Genus: | †Eolympia |
| Species: | †E. pediculata
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Eolympia pediculata Han et al., 2010
| |
The fossil may alternatively represent a scalidophoran worm.[2]
References edit
- ^ Jian Han; Shin Kubota; Hiro-omi Uchida; George D. Stanley Jr.; Xiaoyong Yao; Degan Shu; Yong Li; Kinya Yasui (2010). "Tiny Sea Anemone from the Lower Cambrian of China". PLOS ONE. 5 (10): e13276. Bibcode:2010PLoSO...513276H. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0013276. PMC 2954142. PMID 20967244.
- ^ Liu, Y.; Xiao, S.; Shao, T.; Broce, J.; Zhang, H. (2014). "The oldest known priapulid-like scalidophoran animal and its implications for the early evolution of cycloneuralians and ecdysozoans". Evolution & Development. 16 (3): 155–165. doi:10.1111/ede.12076. PMID 24754444. S2CID 205095219.
 | This article related to a Cambrian animal is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This prehistoric Anthozoa article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |