Bushizheia O’Flynn and Liu, 2020

O’Flynn, Robert J., Audo, Denis, Williams, Mark, Zhai, Dayou, Chen, Hong & Liu, Yu, 2020, A new euarthropod with ‘ great appendage’ - like frontal head limbs from the Chengjiang Lagerstätte, Southwest China, Palaeontologia Electronica (a 36) 23 (2), pp. 1-13 : 4

Genus Bushizheia O’Flynn and Liu , gen. nov.

zoobank.org/ 86579E18-E8FD-4D59-840F-8A686585E73F

Type species. Bushizheia yangi gen. et sp. nov., by monotypy.

Diagnosis. As for type species, by monotypy.

Etymology. Bǔshízhě is Mandarin for predator: an allusion to Kiisortoqia Stein, 2010 , from the Kalaallisut (Greenlandic) word kiisortoq, meaning predator (see Stein, 2010).

Remarks. Bushizheia gen. nov. is ascribed to the total group Euarthropoda – as defined by the presence of fully arthrodised bodies and limbs (Aria, 2019), because it has sclerotised trunk tergites, sclerotisation of post-antennal appendages (see Cotton and Brady, 2004), and does not have any isolated tergites in the cephalic segments (see Ortega-Hernández, 2014).

It features a long, frontal grasping appendage that is morphologically like that of radiodonts, but in combination with a completely arthrodised body organisation; this distinguishes Bushizheia gen. nov. from all other euarthropods, except Kiisortoqia .

Bushizheia gen. nov. and Kiisortoqia appear allied to each other by the possession of frontal ‘great appendage’-like head limbs ( Figure 2 A-D). However, Bushizheia gen. nov. is sufficiently distinct to warrant erection of a monospecific genus. It differs from Kiisortoqia by: (1) Bushizheia gen. nov. has a large pygidium with paired short falcate spines and a terminal tailspine ( Figure 3A ); Kiisortoqia has a small tail shield with neither spines nor a tailspine and twice the number of thoracic tergites; see Figure 4B and also Stein, 2010, p. 482- 483, figures 4B, 5B-C); (2) trilobation of thoracic tergites effaced; (3) dorsal spine is present on each podomere of the frontal head limb (see Daley and Edgecombe, 2014).

Figures

FIGURE 2. Bushizheia yangi gen. et sp. nov. (YKLP 11421). A, C, tungsten photography lighting of left frontal head limb and dorsal view of head shield, respectively; B, D, fluorescent photography lighting of the same. All scale bars are 2 mm. Abbreviation: cw, compression wrinkles; ds, dorsal spines; hl, frontal head limb.

FIGURE 3. Bushizheia yangi gen. et sp. nov. (YKLP 11421). A-B, enlarged from Fig. 1A; A, detail of pygidium; B, detail of exopod setae. Scale bar 3A is 10 mm. Scale bar 3B is 1 mm. Abbreviation: en, endopod; exs, exopod setae; pyg, pygidium; ts, tailspine.

FIGURE 4. Reconstruction of A, Bushizheia yangi gen. et sp. nov. juxtaposed with B, Kiisortoqia soperi Stein 2010 (modified from Stein, 2010) in dorsal view. Both scale bars are 10 mm.