| Pywackia Temporal range:
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|---|---|
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| Artist's restoration | |
Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | incertae sedis |
| Genus: | †Pywackia |
| Species: | †P. baileyi
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| Binomial name | |
| †Pywackia baileyi Landing in Landing et al., 2010
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Pywackia is a contentious Cambrian fossil that has been interpreted as the earliest (total group) bryozoan, and the only representative of that phylum in the Cambrian period.1 Its bryozoan credentials have been called into question,2 but the octocoral alternative is equally unconvincing, and there are reasons to suggest a position in the Stenolaemata stem lineage.3 Finally, the skeletal microstructure is consistent with a cnidarian affinity, but insufficient to support a close affinity with any modern subgroup.4
References
References
- Landing, E.; English, A.; Keppie, J. D. (2010). "Cambrian origin of all skeletalized metazoan phyla--Discovery of Earth's oldest bryozoans (Upper Cambrian, southern Mexico)". Geology. 38 (6): 547. Bibcode:2010Geo....38..547L. doi:10.1130/G30870.1.
- Taylor, P. D.; Berning, B. R.; Wilson, M. A. (2013). "Reinterpretation of the Cambrian 'Bryozoan' Pywackia as an Octocoral". Journal of Paleontology. 87 (6): 984. Bibcode:2013JPal...87..984T. doi:10.1666/13-029. S2CID 129113026.
- Ed Landing; Jonathan B. Antcliffe; Martin D. Brasier; Adam B. English (2015). "Distinguishing Earth's oldest known bryozoan (Pywackia, late Cambrian) from pennatulacean octocorals (Mesozoic—Recent)". Journal of Paleontology. 89 (2): 292–317. Bibcode:2015JPal...89..292L. doi:10.1017/jpa.2014.26. S2CID 131609198.
- Hageman, Steven J.; Vinn, Olev (2023). "Late Cambrian Pywackia is a cnidarian, not a bryozoan: Insights from skeletal microstructure". Journal of Paleontology. 97 (5): 1–12. Bibcode:2023JPal...97..990H. doi:10.1017/jpa.2023.35.