Batofasciculus
| Batofasciculus Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Fossil of Batofasciculus ramificans from the Chengjiang Fossil Site World Natural Heritage Museum. | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Ctenophora |
| Class: | †Scleroctenophora |
| Genus: | †Batofasciculus Hou et al., 1999 |
| Species: | †B. ramificans |
| Binomial name | |
| †Batofasciculus ramificans Hou et al., 1999 | |
Batofasciculus is an extinct genus of scleroctenophoran comb jellies (members of the phylum Ctenophora). It lived during the early Cambrian period as a member of the Chengjiang biota. This genus currently only contains one species, Batofasciculus ramificans, making it monotypic.[1][2]
Taxonomy
[edit]When this genus was originally described by Hou et al. 1999, it was classified with an uncertain phylogenetic placement. However it was tentatively classed as a ctenophore due to features such as an aboral dome-like structure and its eight lobes. New fossil material of Batofasciculus was able to assert this genus ctenophoran affinity by revealing a statolith in the apical organ and an oral region.[1]
Phylogenetic analysis of this genus has shown that it is a member of the class Scleroctenophora. This places it as a close relative of Trigoides and Gemmactena.[1][2]
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 Ou, Qiang; Xiao, Shuhai; Han, Jian; Sun, Ge; Zhang, Fang; Zhang, Zhifei; Shu, Degan (3 July 2015). "A vanished history of skeletonization in Cambrian comb jellies". Science Advances. 1 (6) e1500092. American Association for the Advancement of Science. Bibcode:2015SciA....1E0092O. doi:10.1126/sciadv.1500092. eISSN 2375-2548. PMC 4646772. PMID 26601209. S2CID 390519.
- 1 2 "WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Out of scope". marinespecies.org. Retrieved 2026-07-14.
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