In the past ca.30 years, more than 60,000 samples of fossils and rocks have been collected from the Kaili Formation at Balang, Jianhe County, at Sanwan, Danzhai County, and at Zhuping, Zhenyuan County in Guizhou province, China.More than 100 papers and other works have been published on this material.Through these efforts, the composition of the Kaili Biota has become clear.The Kaili Biota, together with the Chengjiang Biota which bears 228 animal genera and the Bur gess Shale Biota with more than 150 animal genera are the three most important Burgess Shale-type Biotas described to date.Furthermore, the Kaili Biota (Cambrian Series 3) also provides an important linkage between the Chengjiang Biota (Cambrian series 2) and the Burgess Shale Biota (Cambrian middle Series 3).Therefore, the Kaili Biota contained repre sentatives of 120 metazoan genera belonging to 11 phyla pro vides an important window on the diversification of marine or ganisms and the ecological complexity of Cambrian Series 3 af ter the Cambrian Explosion.Research on the Kaili Biota will continue for a long time, with a wide and promising pros pect.
The Kaili Biota Metazoan Cambrian Guizhou of China
Yuanlong ZHAO Haijing SUN Tongshu TAI Maoyan ZHU Jin PENG Jinliang YUAN Ronald L.PARSLEY Loren E.BABCOCK Jih-Pai LIN Xinglian YANG Leiming YIN
College of Resource and Environment Engineering of Guizhou University, Guiyang, China, 550003 Bureau of Land and Resources of Southeast Guizhou Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, Kaili, China, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China, 210 Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70118, USA Department of Geological Sciences, 125 South Oval Mall, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43