Eolympia

{{Short description|Extinct genus of sea anemones}} {{Speciesbox | fossil_range = {{fossil_range|Fortunian}} | image = Microfosil Eolympia pediculata.png | genus = Eolympia | species = pediculata | authority = Han ''et al.'', 2010 }}

'''''Eolympia''''' (meaning "dawn (Greek word 'eos') + Olympic games") is interpreted as an extinct monospecific genus of sea anemone<ref name="Han" /> or dinomischid ctenophore<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Zhao |first1=Yang |last2=Vinther |first2=Jakob |last3=Parry |first3=Luke A. |last4=Wei |first4=Fan |last5=Green |first5=Emily |last6=Pisani |first6=Davide |last7=Hou |first7=Xianguang |last8=Edgecombe |first8=Gregory D. |last9=Cong |first9=Peiyun |date=April 2019 |title=Cambrian Sessile, Suspension Feeding Stem-Group Ctenophores and Evolution of the Comb Jelly Body Plan |journal=Current Biology |volume=29 |issue=7 |pages=1112–1125.e2 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2019.02.036 |pmid=30905603 |issn=0960-9822|hdl=1983/40a6bcb8-a740-482c-a23c-7d563faea5c5 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> which existed in what is now Ningqiang, Shaanxi Province, China during the lower Cambrian period (Fortunian Stage of the Terreneuvian Series - the lower unit of the Lower Cambrian). Its fossils have been recovered from the Kuanchuanpu Formation. The pedicle (after which ''E. pediculata'' is named) is long, suggesting the animal engaged in sexual intercourse, though marked perforations imply that reproduction by transverse fission was also quite likely as a more primitive backup.<ref name="Han">{{Cite journal|author=Jian Han|author2=Shin Kubota|author3=Hiro-omi Uchida|author4=George D. Stanley Jr.|author5=Xiaoyong Yao|author6=Degan Shu|author7=Yong Li|author8=Kinya Yasui |year=2010 |title=Tiny Sea Anemone from the Lower Cambrian of China |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=5 |issue=10 |article-number=e13276 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0013276 |pmid=20967244 |pmc=2954142|bibcode=2010PLoSO...513276H |doi-access=free}}</ref>

The fossil may alternatively represent a scalidophoran worm.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1111/ede.12076| title = The oldest known priapulid-like scalidophoran animal and its implications for the early evolution of cycloneuralians and ecdysozoans| journal = Evolution & Development| volume = 16| issue = 3| pages = 155–165| year = 2014| last1 = Liu | first1 = Y. | last2 = Xiao | first2 = S. | last3 = Shao | first3 = T. | last4 = Broce | first4 = J. | last5 = Zhang | first5 = H. | pmid = 24754444 | s2cid = 205095219}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Prehistoric Anthozoa genera Category:Cambrian cnidarians Category:Fossil taxa described in 2010 Category:Prehistoric animals of China Category:Fortunian Category:Fortunian genus first appearances Category:Fortunian genus extinctions Category:Cambrian genus extinctions Category:Monotypic prehistoric animal genera