Collective Behavior in an Early Cambrian Arthropod
Xian-Guang Hou,1*
Derek J. Siveter,2
Richard J. Aldridge,3
David J. Siveter3
Examples that indicate collective behavior in the fossil record are rare. A group association of specimens that belong to a previously unknown arthropod from the Chengjiang Lagerstätte, China, provides evidence that such behavior was present in the early Cambrian (about 525 million years ago), coincident with the earliest extensive diversification of the Metazoa, the so-called Cambrian explosion event. The chainlike form of these specimens is unique for any arthropod, fossil or living, and most likely represents behavior associated with migration.
1 Yunnan Key Laboratory for Palaeobiology, Yunnan University, Kunming, Yunnan Province, People's Republic of China.
2 University Museum and Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford, UK.
3 Department of Geology, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: xghou{at}ynu.edu.cn
