''Shenzianyuloma'' is an extinct genus of

vetulicolian Vetulicolia is a group of bilaterian marine animals encompassing several extinct species from the Cambrian, and possibly Ediacaran, periods. As of 2023, the majority of workers favor placing Vetulicolians in the stem group of the Chordata, but ...

represented by a single species, ''Shenzianyuloma yunnanense'', from the

Maotianshan Shale The Maotianshan Shales () are a series of Early Cambrian sedimentary deposits in the Chiungchussu Formation or Heilinpu Formation, famous for their '' Konservat Lagerstätten'', deposits known for the exceptional preservation of fossilized orga ...

during

Stage 3 Stage, stages, or staging may refer to: Arts and media Acting * Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions * Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage" * ''The Stage'', a weekly Brit ...

(518 million years ago) of the

Cambrian The Cambrian ( ) is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 51.95 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran period 538.8 Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Ordov ...

period. It is notable for having a compact body shape akin to that of an angelfish. Its exact phylogenetic position is unclear, and it was not included in a 2024 phylogenetic analysis and 2025 review of vetulicolians.

Etymology

The name of the genus is derived from the

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

''shénxiān yú'' (神仙鱼), meaning " angelfish", and an anagram of '' Mola''.

Provenance

The ''Shenzianyuloma'' holotype was acquired from a "crystal and fossil vendor" in Lianyungang, Jiangsu, China, and assigned to the

Maotianshan shale The Maotianshan Shales () are a series of Early Cambrian sedimentary deposits in the Chiungchussu Formation or Heilinpu Formation, famous for their '' Konservat Lagerstätten'', deposits known for the exceptional preservation of fossilized orga ...

based on the presence of the

brachiopod Brachiopods (), phylum (biology), phylum Brachiopoda, are a phylum of animals that have hard "valves" (shells) on the upper and lower surfaces, unlike the left and right arrangement in bivalve molluscs. Brachiopod valves are hinged at the rear e ...

''Diadonga pista'' on the same slab, as well as the rock's matrix characteristics.

Taxonomy

As of late 2024, ''Shenzianyuloma'' has only been discussed in two papers, both published by

MDPI MDPI (Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute) is a publisher of open-access scientific journals. It publishes over 390 peer-reviewed, open-access journals. MDPI is among the largest publishers in the world in terms of journal article o ...

, and has not yet been included in any broader phylogenetic analysis such as that done by Mussini et al. Ma et al. (2025) provided list of vetulicolian fossil records described up to 2023, but ''Shenzianyuloma'' is not included. ''Shenzianyuloma'' has been interpreted as having a notochord-like structure, as have some other vetulicolians such as ''

Nesonektris ''Nesonektris aldridgei'' is an extinct vetulicolian from the Late Botomian-aged Emu Bay Shale Lagerstätte in Kangaroo Island, Australia. So far, it is the fourth described vetulicolian that is not restricted to the Maotianshan Shales (the oth ...

'' and ''

Vetulicola ''Vetulicola'' is an extinct genus of marine animal discovered from the Cambrian of China. It is the eponymous member of the enigmatic taxon Vetulicolia, which is of uncertain affinities but may belong to the deuterostomes. The name was derived ...

''. The recent consensus places vetulicolians as

stem Stem or STEM most commonly refers to: * Plant stem, a structural axis of a vascular plant * Stem group * Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics Stem or STEM can also refer to: Language and writing * Word stem, part of a word respon ...

chordates A chordate ( ) is a bilaterian animal belonging to the phylum Chordata ( ). All chordates possess, at some point during their larval or adult stages, five distinctive physical characteristics ( synapomorphies) that distinguish them from ot ...

, but their exact position remains unclear. Depending on that position, the presence of a notochord in ''Shenzianyuloma'' could either support an ancestral deuterostome with a primitive notochord-like structure, or help resolve the placement of an archaic chordate-related phylum.

References

Works cited

* * * * {{Vetulicolia Vetulicolia Maotianshan shales fossils Fossil taxa described in 2019