| Rotadiscus Temporal range:
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|---|---|
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| Fossil of Rotadiscus | |
Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Stem group: | Ambulacraria |
| Clade: | †Cambroernida |
| Class: | †Eldonioidea |
| Family: | †Rotadiscidae |
| Genus: | †Rotadiscus Sun & Hou, 1987 |
| Type species | |
| R. grandis Sun & Hou, 1987
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| Synonyms2 | |
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Rotadiscus is a genus of discoidal animal known from the Cambrian Chengjiang biota3 and classified with the eldonioids.2
As with other eldonioids, it was originally thought to have been pelagic, but is now thought to be benthic.4
In addition to the type species R. grandis, two other Rotadiscus species have been proposed. The first is known only from one complete juvenile specimen and a few fragments, and was originally described as "Brzechowia sp." It remains without a formal species name, but has been transferred to Rotadiscus.5 The species initially described as R. guizhouensis has since been reassigned to the genus Pararotadiscus.2
A 2023 cladistic analysis based on new fossils places Rotadiscus, along with other eldonioids, as stem-group ambulacrarians in the clade Cambroernida.6
References
References
- Chen, Jun-yuan; Zhu, Mao-yan; Zhou, Gui-qing (1995). "The early Cambrian medusiform metazoan Eldonia from the Chengjiang Lagerstätte" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 40 (3): 213–244.
- Schroeder, Natalie I.; Paterson, John R.; Brock, Glenn A. (2018). "Eldonioids with associated trace fossils from the lower Cambrian Emu Bay Shale Konservat-Lagerstätte of South Australia". Journal of Paleontology. 92 (1): 80–86. Bibcode:2018JPal...92...80S. doi:10.1017/jpa.2018.6. ISSN 0022-3360. S2CID 197586878.
- Zhu, Mao-Yan; Zhao, Yuan-Long; Chen, Jun-Yuan (2002-03-01). "Revision of the Cambrian discoidal animals Stellostomites eumorphus and Pararotadiscus guizhouensis from South China". Geobios. 35 (2): 165–185. Bibcode:2002Geobi..35..165Z. doi:10.1016/S0016-6995(02)00025-6. ISSN 0016-6995.
- Dzik, Jerzy; Zhao, Yuanlong; Zhu, Maoyan (1997). "Mode of life of the middle Cambrian eldonioid lophophorate Rotadiscus". Palaeontology. 40 (2): 385–396. Retrieved 28 December 2024.
- Masiak, M.; Żylińska, A. (1994). "Burgess Shale-type fossils in Cambrian sandstones of the Holy Cross Mountains" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 39 (4): 329–340. Retrieved 28 December 2024.
- Li, Yujing; Dunn, Frances S.; Murdock, Duncan J.E.; Guo, Jin; Rahman, Imran A.; Cong, Peiyun (May 10, 2023). "Cambrian stem-group ambulacrarians and the nature of the ancestral deuterostome". Current Biology. 33 (12): 2359–2366.e2. Bibcode:2023CBio...33E2359L. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2023.04.048. hdl:10141/623055. PMID 37167976.