Musculature of an Early Cambrian cycloneuralian animal.

Cycloneuralians are ecdysozoans with a fossil record extending to the Early Cambrian Fortunian Age and represented mostly by cuticular integuments. However, internal anatomies of Fortunian cycloneuralians are virtually unknown, hampering our understanding of their functional morphology and phylogenetic relationships. Here we report the exceptional preservation of cycloneuralian introvert musculature in Fortunian rocks of South China. The musculature consists of an introvert body-wall muscular grid of four circular and 36 radially arranged longitudinal muscle bundles, as well as an introvert circular muscle associated with 19 roughly radially arranged, short retractors. Collectively, these features support at least a scalidophoran affinity, and the absence of muscles associated with a mouth cone and scalids further indicates a priapulan affinity. As in modern scalidophorans, the fossil musculature, and particularly the introvert circular muscle retractors, may have controlled introvert inversion and facilitated locomotion and feeding. This work supports the evolution of scalidophoran-like or priapulan-like introvert musculature in cycloneuralians at the beginning of the Cambrian Period.

The Suspended Sediment Flux in Winter in the South of Chengshantou, between the North and South Yellow Sea.

Due to the regional differences between the North and South Yellow Sea, and under the influence of winter winds, the relative changes in the coastal current and the Yellow Sea warm current will lead to the instability of the front, which will lead to the cross-front transport of sediment. Therefore, the study of sediment exchange between the North and South Yellow Sea has become an indispensable part of the study of the Yellow Sea environment. In this study, the current field and sediment concentration in the southern part of Chengshantou, a representative area of the Yellow Sea, were observed in winter in order to analyze the sediment exchange process between the North Yellow Sea and the South Yellow Sea in winter. The observation results show that in the southern sea area of Chengshantou, in winter, the current velocity does not change with the water depth when it exceeds 15 m, and the tides are regular semi-diurnal tides. When the water depth is less than 15 m, the current direction changes clockwise with the increase in the water depth. The turbidity increases rapidly when the wind direction is offshore and the bottom residual current is onshore, which may cause the sediment transported offshore under the action of wind and ocean current to settle under the obstruction of the Yellow Sea warm current, resulting in the rise of bottom turbidity. This also indicates that the change in residual current direction at different water depths may also lead to an increase in suspended sediment concentration. Based on this, in the estuarine area, the relative change in the current direction between the wind current and the coastal current may also be the cause of the change in the maximum turbidity zone.

Internal anatomy of a fossilized embryonic stage of the Cambrian-Ordovician scalidophoran Markuelia.

The Wangcun fossil Lagerstätte in Hunan, South China, has yielded hundreds of fossilized embryos of Markuelia hunanensis representing different developmental stages. Internal tissues have only rarely been observed, impeding further understanding of the soft tissue anatomy, phylogenetic affinity and evolutionary significance of Markuelia. In this study, we used synchrotron radiation X-ray tomographic microscopy (SRXTM) to study a new collection of fossil embryos from the Wangcun fossil Lagerstätte. We describe specimens exhibiting a spectrum of preservation states, the best of which preserves palisade structures underneath the cuticle of the head and tail, distinct from patterns of centripetal mineralization of the cuticle and centrifugal mineralization of hypha-like structures, seen elsewhere in this specimen and other fossils within the same assemblage. Our computed tomographic reconstruction of these mineralization phases preserves the gross morphology of (i) longitudinal structures associated with the tail spines, which we interpret as the proximal ends of longitudinal muscles, and (ii) a ring-shaped structure internal to the introvert, which we interpret as a ring-shaped brain, as anticipated of the cycloneuralian affinity of Markuelia. This is the first record of a fossilized nervous system in a scalidophoran, and the first instance in Orsten-style preservation, opening the potential for further such records within this widespread mode of high-fidelity three-dimensional preservation.

Saccorhytus is an early ecdysozoan and not the earliest deuterostome.

The early history of deuterostomes, the group composed of the chordates, echinoderms and hemichordates1, is still controversial, not least because of a paucity of stem representatives of these clades2-5. The early Cambrian microscopic animal Saccorhytus coronarius was interpreted as an early deuterostome on the basis of purported pharyngeal openings, providing evidence for a meiofaunal ancestry6 and an explanation for the temporal mismatch between palaeontological and molecular clock timescales of animal evolution6-8. Here we report new material of S. coronarius, which is reconstructed as a millimetric and ellipsoidal meiobenthic animal with spinose armour and a terminal mouth but no anus. Purported pharyngeal openings in support of the deuterostome hypothesis6 are shown to be taphonomic artefacts. Phylogenetic analyses indicate that S. coronarius belongs to total-group Ecdysozoa, expanding the morphological disparity and ecological diversity of early Cambrian ecdysozoans.

The early Cambrian fossil embryo Pseudooides is a direct-developing cnidarian, not an early ecdysozoan.

Early Cambrian Pseudooides prima has been described from embryonic and post-embryonic stages of development, exhibiting long germ-band development. There has been some debate about the pattern of segmentation, but this interpretation, as among the earliest records of ecdysozoans, has been generally accepted. Here, we show that the 'germ band' of P. prima embryos separates along its mid axis during development, with the transverse furrows between the 'somites' unfolding into the polar aperture of the ten-sided theca of Hexaconularia sichuanensis, conventionally interpreted as a scyphozoan cnidarian; co-occurring post-embryonic remains of ecdysozoans are unrelated. We recognize H. sichuanensis as a junior synonym of P. prima as a consequence of identifying these two form-taxa as distinct developmental stages of the same organism. Direct development in P. prima parallels the co-occuring olivooids Olivooides, and Quadrapyrgites and Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of a novel phenotype dataset indicates that, despite differences in their tetra-, penta- and pseudo-hexa-radial symmetry, these hexangulaconulariids comprise a clade of scyphozoan medusozoans, with Arthrochites and conulariids, that all exhibit direct development from embryo to thecate polyp. The affinity of hexangulaconulariids and olivooids to extant scyphozoan medusozoans indicates that the prevalence of tetraradial symmetry and indirect development are a vestige of a broader spectrum of body-plan symmetries and developmental modes that was manifest in their early Phanerozoic counterparts.

[Cultivation of aerobic granular sludge with municipal wastewater and studies on its characteristics under the continuous flow].

The aerobic granular sludge was cultivated successfully in a continuous-flow airlift aerobic granular sludge fluidized bed (CAFB), with low-concentration municipal sewage as the influent and flocculent activated sludge as the seeding sludge. The formation, characteristics and the biological diversity of the aerobic granules in the CAFB were investigated and analyzed. Experimental results showed that many dense and compact granules with diameter of 800-1 000 microm were formed as early as the 6th days operation. At the start-up stage, sludge volume index (SVI) decreased to 35 mL x g(-1), the mixed liquor suspended solid (MLSS) concentration increased to 6000 mg x L(-1), and the mass fraction of extracellular polymeric substances increased significantly. The granules presented a good biological diversity and high biomass contents at the steady running stage. The aerobic granules were basically composed of coccid and bacillus as observed by the scanning electron microscope. A large number of voids and channels were found to be located on the surface of the granules. The removal rate of COD maintained at 70% -75% at the steady stage of CAFB running, and the effluent COD concentrations were 70 mg x L(-1). At the 32nd day of operation, filamentous bacteria grew apparently and sludge bulking happened. Above results showed the CAFB aerobic granules formed rapidly, and performed a good ability on the pollutant removal. However, more work is necessary on the steady running of this novel bioreactor in the future.