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Myllokunmingiidae is a group of very early, jawless
prehistoric fish __NOTOC__ Prehistoric fish are early fish that are known only from fossil records. They are the earliest known vertebrates, and include the first and extinct fish that lived through the Cambrian to the Quaternary. The study of prehistoric fish is ...
(
Agnatha Agnatha (; ) or jawless fish is a paraphyletic infraphylum of animals in the subphylum Vertebrata of the phylum Chordata, characterized by the lack of jaws. The group consists of both extant taxon, living (Cyclostomi, cyclostomes such as hagfish ...
ns) which lived during 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. The Myllokunmingiids are the earliest known group of
craniate A craniate is a member of the Craniata (sometimes called the Craniota), a proposed clade of chordate animals with a skull of hard bone or cartilage. Living representatives are the Myxini (hagfishes), Hyperoartia (including lampreys), and the mu ...
s. The group contains only three known genera, ''
Haikouichthys ''Haikouichthys'' is an extinct genus of craniate (animals with notochords and distinct heads) that lived 518 million years ago, during the Cambrian explosion of multicellular life. The type species, ''Haikouichthys ercaicunensis'', was first ...
'', ''
Myllokunmingia ''Myllokunmingia'' is a genus of basal chordate from the Lower Cambrian Maotianshan shales of China 518 mya and is thought to be a vertebrate, although this is not conclusively supported. The type species ''M. fengjiaoa'' is 28 mm long and ...
'', and ''
Zhongjianichthys ''Zhongjianichthys rostratus'' is an extinct species basal chordate that lived in the Cambrian Period, approximately 518 million years ago, in what is now Southwest China. It is sometimes regarded as an early fish, and therefore as one of the fir ...
''. Their fossils have been found only in the
Maotianshan Shales 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 ...
lagerstätte A Fossil-Lagerstätte (, from ''Lager'' 'storage, lair' '' Stätte'' 'place'; plural ''Lagerstätten'') is a sedimentary deposit that preserves an exceptionally high amount of palaeontological information. ''Konzentrat-Lagerstätten'' preserv ...
.


Taxonomy

* Order †Myllokunmingiida Shu, 2003 ** Family †Myllokunmingiidae Shu, 2003 *** Genus †''
Haikouichthys ''Haikouichthys'' is an extinct genus of craniate (animals with notochords and distinct heads) that lived 518 million years ago, during the Cambrian explosion of multicellular life. The type species, ''Haikouichthys ercaicunensis'', was first ...
'' Luo, Hu & Shu 1999 sensu Shu ''et al.'', 2003 **** Species †'' Haikouichthys ercaicunensis'' Luo, Hu & Shu 1999 sensu Shu ''et al.'', 2003 *** Genus †''
Myllokunmingia ''Myllokunmingia'' is a genus of basal chordate from the Lower Cambrian Maotianshan shales of China 518 mya and is thought to be a vertebrate, although this is not conclusively supported. The type species ''M. fengjiaoa'' is 28 mm long and ...
'' Shu, Zhang & Han, 1999 **** Species †'' Myllokunmingia fengjiaoa'' Shu, Zhang & Han, 1999 *** Genus †''
Zhongjianichthys ''Zhongjianichthys rostratus'' is an extinct species basal chordate that lived in the Cambrian Period, approximately 518 million years ago, in what is now Southwest China. It is sometimes regarded as an early fish, and therefore as one of the fir ...
'' Shu, 2003 **** Species †'' Zhongjianichthys rostratus'' Shu, 2003


See also

Other very early vertebrates or transitional between
olfactores Olfactores is a clade within the Chordata that comprises the Tunicata ( Urochordata) and the Vertebrata (sometimes referred to as Craniata). Olfactores represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, as the Cephalochordata are the ...
and
vertebrates Vertebrates () are animals with a vertebral column (backbone or spine), and a cranium, or skull. The vertebral column surrounds and protects the spinal cord, while the cranium protects the brain. The vertebrates make up the subphylum Vertebra ...
are: *''
Yunnanozoon ''Yunnanozoon lividum'' (Yunnan + Greek ζῷον ''zôion'' (animal), with species name Latin ''lividum''; (lead-coloured), referring to preserved colour of specimens) is an extinct species of bilaterian animal from the Lower Cambrian Chengji ...
'' ( Terrenuevian; junior synonym: ''
Haikouella ''Yunnanozoon lividum'' (Yunnan + Greek ζῷον ''zôion'' (animal), with species name Latin ''lividum''; (lead-coloured), referring to preserved colour of specimens) is an extinct species of bilaterian animal from the Lower Cambrian Chengj ...
'') *''
Zhongxiniscus ''Zhongxiniscus'' is a genus of primitive chordate from eastern Yunnan that lived during the Early Cambrian. Known from a single specimen, it had a small, broad and short, fish-like body that was roughly ten millimeters in length. It possessed S ...
'' (
Cambrian Stage 3 Cambrian Stage 3 is the still unnamed third stage of the Cambrian. It succeeds Cambrian Stage 2 and precedes Cambrian Stage 4, although neither its base nor top have been formally defined. The plan is for its lower boundary to correspond approxima ...
) *''
Metaspriggina ''Metaspriggina'' is a genus of chordate initially known from two specimens in the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale and 44 specimens found in 2012 at the Marble Canyon bed in Kootenay National Park. Whilst named after the Ediacaran organi ...
'' (
Middle Cambrian Middle or The Middle may refer to: * Centre (geometry), the point equally distant from the outer limits. Places * Middle (sheading), a subdivision of the Isle of Man * Middle Bay (disambiguation) * Middle Brook (disambiguation) * Middle Creek (di ...
) *''
Palaeospondylus ''Palaeospondylus'' ("early vertebra") is a prehistoric fish, a fossil vertebrate. Its fossils were originally described from the Achanarras slate quarry in Caithness, Scotland, and a second species has been discovered in Australia. The Scottis ...
'' (
Middle Devonian In the geological timescale, the Middle Devonian epoch (from 393.3 ± 1.2 million years ago to 382.7 ± 1.6 million years ago) occurred during the Devonian period, after the end of the Emsian age. The Middle Devonian epoch is subdivided into two ...
)


References

Prehistoric jawless fish families Cambrian chordates Cambrian first appearances Cambrian extinctions {{cambrian-animal-stub