Kylinxia

Kylinxia
Temporal range: Cambrian Stage 3 518 Ma
↓
Artist's restoration, following three eye interpretation
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Genus:
†Kylinxia
Species:
†K. zhangi
Binomial name
Kylinxia zhangi
Zeng et al., 2020

Kylinxia is a genus of extinct arthropod described in 2020. It was described from six specimens discovered in Yu'anshan Formation (Maotianshan Shales) in southern China. The specimens are assigned to one species Kylinxia zhangi.[1] Dated to 518 million years, the fossils falls under the Cambrian period.[2] Announcing the discovery on 4 November 2020 at a press conference, Zeng Han of the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, said that the animal "bridges the evolutionary gap from Anomalocaris to true arthropods and forms a key ‘missing link’ in the origin of arthropods,"[3] which was "predicted by Darwin’s evolutionary theory."[4] The same day the formal description was published in Nature.[1]

  1. ^ a b Zeng, Han; Zhao, Fangchen; Niu, Kecheng; Zhu, Maoyan; Huang, Diying (2020). "An early Cambrian euarthropod with radiodont-like raptorial appendages". Nature. 588 (7836): 101–105. Bibcode:2020Natur.588..101Z. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2883-7. PMID 33149303. S2CID 226248177.
  2. ^ Weisberger, Mindy (5 November 2020). "500 million-year-old creature with mashup of bizarre features could be arthropod 'missing link'". livescience.com. Retrieved 2023-12-17.
  3. ^ "Five-eyed fossil shrimp could be 'missing link' in arthropod evolution". The Japan Times. 2020-11-05. Archived from the original on November 4, 2020.
  4. ^ "Five eyes and quite a story to tell". Cosmos Magazine. 2020-11-04. Archived from the original on 2023-11-08.