Abstract

The fuxianhuiids are a modestly diverse (ca. 8 species) but well-defined clade of extinct soft-bodied euarthropods that are known from early Cambrian marine deposits in South China. They are widely regarded as distant relatives of the major extant groups – namely arachnids, myriapods, crustaceans and insects – and their fossils have provided unique information on their external and internal morphology. Fuxianhuiids have contributed towards a better understanding of the early evolutionary radiation of the most successful animal phylum in the history of life on Earth, and led to a detailed reconstruction of the origin of the euarthropod body plan. This talk will provide an overview of the exceptionally preserved external and internal morphology of fuxianhuiids, as well as their ecology, ontogeny, and overall importance as one of the most comprehensively studied groups of Cambrian euarthropods.