en Yarnemia

Yarnemia; Temporal range: 557 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
	reconstruction as a tunicate-like animal
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Subphylum:	Tunicata (?)
Genus:	†Yarnemia; Nesov in Chistyakov et al., 1984
Species:	†Y. ascidiformis
Binomial name
	†Yarnemia ascidiformis; Nesov in Chistyakov et al., 1984

Yarnemia ascidiformis is a fossil tentatively classified as a tunicate. While Y. ascidiformis looks similar to tunicates, the oldest unequivocal tunicate, Shankouclava^[1] dates to the Cambrian period, while Y. ascidiformis is Ediacaran in age.^[2]^[3]

Etymology

The generic name Yarnemia comes from the village of Yarnema near which the first specimens were found. The specific epithet, ascidiformis, refers to the likeness to ascidians.

References

^ Chen, Jun-Yuan, et al. "The first tunicate from the Early Cambrian of South China." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 100.14 (2003): 8314-8318.
^ University of California Museum of Paleontology Berkeley
^ Chistyakov, V.G.; Kalmykova, N.A.; Nesov, L.A. & Suslov, G.A. (1984). "О наличии вендских отложений в среднем течении р. Онеги и возможном существовании оболочечников (Tunicata: Chordata) в докембрии" [On the Presence of Vendian Deposits in the Middle Course of the Onega River and Presumable Existence of Tunica (Tunicata: Chordata) in Precambrian] (PDF). Vest. Leningrad. Gos. Univ. (LGU) (in Russian). 6: 11–19. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 7, 2007.