''Shankouclava'' is an extinct genus of

tunicate A tunicate is a marine invertebrate animal, a member of the subphylum Tunicata (). It is part of the Chordata, a phylum which includes all animals with dorsal nerve cords and notochords (including vertebrates). The subphylum was at one time ...

. It represents the oldest, unequivocal genus of tunicates, from 520 million years ago. It has been found in the

Lower Cambrian The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million years ago ...

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

at Shankou village, Anning, near

Kunming Kunming (; ), also known as Yunnan-Fu, is the capital and largest city of Yunnan province, China. It is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of the province as well as the seat of the provincial government. The headqua ...

( South China). Each of the eight specimens found and used for description were isolated, suggesting that the genus was

solitary Solitary is the state of being alone or in solitude. The term may refer to: * shortened form of solitary confinement * Solitary animal, an animal that does not live with others in its species * Solitary but social, a type of social organizatio ...

and not

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 a ...

. The generic name is composed of the fossil locality, Shankou, and the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

word ''clava'' (club-shaped). ''Shankouclava'' had a soft, sac-like body that was elongated and pointed proximally. The body lengths of individuals vary from 2 cm (0.8 in) to 4 cm (1.6 in).

References

Tunicate genera Prehistoric chordate genera Fossil taxa described in 2003 Cambrian genus extinctions {{Paleo-deuterostome-stub