寒武纪疑难化石足杯虫类的系统学与演化古生物学

足杯虫类是寒武纪特有的一类疑难化石，由于其独特的身体形态很难直接与现生类型进行对比，目前在足杯虫类的精细解剖结构、身体构型和谱系位置等方面均存在较大的争议。申请人的前期工作表明足杯虫类可能是一类独特的双胚层动物，但其具体的亲缘关系仍不确定。本项目以澄江生物群中具精美软躯体组织保存的足杯虫类化石及身体形态相似的类群为研究对象，对这些化石材料的形态学及分类学开展系统的研究，尝试解决足杯虫类的形态学争议，重新评估关键性状特征的同源性，完善对它们身体构型的认识。重点通过系统发生分析构建形态系统树，重建足杯虫类的谱系位置；在此基础上，讨论足杯虫类在双胚层动物早期演化中的地位和意义。

The Cambrian problematic dinomischids are unique in bearing strange body plan that is not comparable with living metazoans. Previous work of the applicant shows that dinomischids might be an early group of diploblastic grades. This new idea provokes a series of discussions concerning the phylogenetic relationship and early evolution of cnidarians and ctenophores. In addition, controversies still exist in the morphology of dinomischids, particularly in their homologies within diploblastic groups. This proposal aims to re-evaluate the systematics of dinomischids, primarily focusing on the assessment of structural homologies and the reconstruction of their body plan. Phylogenetic analyses will be employed as the main method to recover the position of dinomischids in the animal tree of life. The results will have significant impacts on understanding the morphological characters and body plan evolution of diploblastic animals.