Ecological reconstruction of the Liexi fauna
Drawn by J. Sun
Creationist mode: 
The Problem is probably that the Chinese don't have the Bible, like American fundamentalist Christians do, so how were they to know that they should be ignoring the evidence they find in the natural world and dismissing it as a Satanic plot, because the Bible says all living organisms were magicked up all at the same time, by a supernatural magician using magic? Nor did they know that while the physical world created by the same supernatural magician contains masses of misleading evidence and lies designed to trick us, all the truth was put in a book by the same magician, which is guaranteed to be the truth because the magician who lied in all the physical evidence said so.
These Chinese! They just can't do the logic!
Fossils from the Liexi fauna
(a) NIGP179794, an undescribed complete sponge. (b) NIGP179795, a well-preserved machaeridian polychaete and an undescribed trilobite. (c) NIGP179796, a possible Ottoia and a palaeoscolecidan worm. (d ) NIGP179797, a trilobite Niobella sp. with digestive tracts. (e) NIGP179798, a complete rhombiferan theca with partial arms and stem preserved. (f ) NIGP179799, three individuals of cyclocystoid-like echinoderms, showing the central disc, the marginal ring and tentacle-like structures of the dorsal surface. (g) NIGP179800, the central part of a cyclocystoid-like echinoderm, showing the pattern of ray branching of ventral surface. (h) NIGP179801, three individuals of conical demosponges. (i) NIGP179802, a well-preserved benthic graptolite Dictyonema delicatulum. Scale bars of (a), (c), (e), ( f ), (h) and (i) represent 10 mm, others represent 5 mm.
(a) NIGP179794, an undescribed complete sponge. (b) NIGP179795, a well-preserved machaeridian polychaete and an undescribed trilobite. (c) NIGP179796, a possible Ottoia and a palaeoscolecidan worm. (d ) NIGP179797, a trilobite Niobella sp. with digestive tracts. (e) NIGP179798, a complete rhombiferan theca with partial arms and stem preserved. (f ) NIGP179799, three individuals of cyclocystoid-like echinoderms, showing the central disc, the marginal ring and tentacle-like structures of the dorsal surface. (g) NIGP179800, the central part of a cyclocystoid-like echinoderm, showing the pattern of ray branching of ventral surface. (h) NIGP179801, three individuals of conical demosponges. (i) NIGP179802, a well-preserved benthic graptolite Dictyonema delicatulum. Scale bars of (a), (c), (e), ( f ), (h) and (i) represent 10 mm, others represent 5 mm.
Palaeoscolecidan worms from the Liexi fauna
Palaeoscolecidan worms from the Liexi fauna. (a) NIGP179803, a mass assemblage of palaeoscolecidan worms. (b) NIGP179804, a mass assemblage of palaeoscolecidan worms. (c) Close-up of the palaeoscolecidan worm in the box from (b). (d ) NIGP179805, close-up of the palaeoscolecidan worm showing the details of ornaments. (e) NIGP179806, SEM micrograph of the palaeoscolecidan worm showing the details of sclerites. Scale bars: (a,b) represent 10 mm, (c) represents 5 mm, (d ) represents 1 mm; (e) represents 50 µm.
Palaeoscolecidan worms from the Liexi fauna. (a) NIGP179803, a mass assemblage of palaeoscolecidan worms. (b) NIGP179804, a mass assemblage of palaeoscolecidan worms. (c) Close-up of the palaeoscolecidan worm in the box from (b). (d ) NIGP179805, close-up of the palaeoscolecidan worm showing the details of ornaments. (e) NIGP179806, SEM micrograph of the palaeoscolecidan worm showing the details of sclerites. Scale bars: (a,b) represent 10 mm, (c) represents 5 mm, (d ) represents 1 mm; (e) represents 50 µm.
Creationist mode: 
As it was, being scientists, they were free to tell the truth and try to inform and enlighten us, rather than mislead and endarken us. They say it contains a snapshot of the transitional biota during what is known to science as the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (GOBE) when there was a rapid radiation of marine life on a par with the earlier Cambrian radiation. The fossils show transition from the Cambrian to the Ordovician biota and of course are just what the Theory of Evolution predicts.
And this is how they announced their discovery to the news media:
In the 1980s, the famous palaeontologist Prof. Sepkoski proposed the diversity curve of the marine animal, recognized three evolutionary faunas, and proposed the concept of Ordovician radiation. From the beginning of the Ordovician, marine life started its great radiation, as manifested by the rapid appearance of new orders, families, and genera, together with the replacement of existing groups. The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (GOBE) constructed the essential framework of the Palaeozoic Evolutionary Fauna, while the Cambrian faunas dominated by the arthropods were replaced by the Palaeozoic faunas represented by the filter feeders and reef-forming organisms.Sadly, the team's published paper in Proceedings of the Royal Society B is behind an expensive paywall but the abstract can be read here. In it the authors say:
GOBE was primitively studied and defined with the skeletonized taxa, rather than the non-mineralized taxa. The exceptionally preserved Lagerstätten have been assessed as reflecting the living community, providing new evidence to know the Ordovician marine world. However, only several Ordovician Lagerstätten have been discovered before, especially in the Early Ordovician. Recently, a new Lagerstätte, Liexi fauna, was reported by the research team from Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS), Hunan Museum and Central South University, from the Lower Ordovician of Yongshun country, Hunan Province. This work has been published online in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
The Liexi fauna has been discovered from the Madaoyu Formation of Lower Ordovician near the Liexi village, Yongshun county, Hunan Province. The conodont and graptolite assemblages indicate an age of mid-Florian, Early Ordovician, which is slightly younger than the Fezouata biota from Morocco and the Afon Gam biota from Welsh. Most of the documented fossiliferous Early Ordovician Lagerstätten globally are interpreted to occur in high latitude regions, such as the Fezouata biota near the South Pole, and the Afon Gam biota from North Wales at a palaeolatitude of 60°S. During the Early Ordovician, South China was thought to be a typical tropical palaeogeographical setting. In contrast to some other Ordovician Lagerstätten preserved in restricted or anoxic environments, the depositional environment of the Liexi fauna is interpreted to be offshore to the lower shoreface, following the palaeogeographic setting.
The Liexi fauna includes up to 11 phyla of marine animals. The fauna is characterized by abundant, diverse biomineralized fossils along with the exceptional preservation of some non-mineralized tissues and groups. In addition to rich palaeoscolecidans and diverse trilobites (including the digestive tract preservation), the fauna also contains graptolites, extraordinarily complete echinoderms, exceptionally-preserved sponges, possible Ottoia, machaeridian polychaetes, and other rare biomineralized specimens, signalling a flourishing Early Ordovician marine fauna. A biologically complex and complete marine ecosystem with diverse organisms and varied lifestyles is proposed here, including endobenthic, sessile benthic, mobile benthic, nektonic, and planktic taxa.
Any discoveries of Early Ordovician Lagerstätten are of significant concern for the research on the Cambrian to Ordovician faunal transition. The Liexi fauna is suggested as the age of middle Floian, probably preceding the GOBE’s primary interval of diversification by ~5–10 Myr. The reconstructed complex ecosystem based on the present Liexi fauna provides new evidence for the significant biotic turnover from Cambrian to the Palaeozoic evolutionary faunas, by showing a mixture of Cambrian relics, and the Ordovician new arrivals.
Here, we report on a new tropical Lagerstätte, Liexi fauna, which has been recently discovered from a carbonate succession within the Lower Ordovician Madaoyu Formation in western Hunan, South China. … The fauna includes taxa that are not only Cambrian relics, but also taxa originated during the Ordovician, constituting a complex and complete marine ecosystem. The coexistence of the Cambrian relics and Ordovician taxa reveals the critical transition between the Cambrian and Palaeozoic Evolutionary faunas. The unusual Liexi fauna provides new evidence for understanding Ordovician macroevolution and the onset of the GOBE.In other words, the collection contains fossils showing intermediate stages between the Cambrian and the Ordovician and evidence of the evolution of entirely new taxa in this period of rapid evolutionary diversification.
Not something any self-respecting Creationists want to hear and not what the frauds who lead their cult will be telling them, because, as usual, the facts refute Creationism and are not in any degree of accord with a literal interpretation of the Christian Bible. The fact is, they flatly contradict it. And I doubt the Chinese scientist were even trying.
Abstract
The Ordovician Lagerstätten record substantial amounts of excellent preservation and soft-bodied fossils during the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (GOBE). However, few Lagerstätten are known from the Lower Ordovician, most of which are preserved in restricted environments and high-latitude regions. Here, we report on a new tropical Lagerstätte, Liexi fauna, which has been recently discovered from a carbonate succession within the Lower Ordovician Madaoyu Formation in western Hunan, South China. It contains a variety of soft tissues, as well as rich shelly fossils, including palaeoscolecidan worms, possible Ottoia, trilobites, echinoderms, sponges, graptolites, polychaetes, bryozoans, conodonts and other fossils. The fauna includes taxa that are not only Cambrian relics, but also taxa originated during the Ordovician, constituting a complex and complete marine ecosystem. The coexistence of the Cambrian relics and Ordovician taxa reveals the critical transition between the Cambrian and Palaeozoic Evolutionary faunas. The unusual Liexi fauna provides new evidence for understanding Ordovician macroevolution and the onset of the GOBE.
Fang, X., Mao, Y.Y., Liu, Q., Yuan, W.W., Chen, Z.Y., Wu, R.C., Li, L.X., Zhang, Y.C., Ma, J.Y., Wang, W.H., Zhan, R.B., Peng, S.C., Zhang, Y.D., Huang, D.Y.*, 2022.
The Liexi fauna: a new Lagerstatte from the Lower Ordovician of South China.
Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 289: 20221027. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2022.1027.
© 2022 The Royal Society.
Reprinted under the terms of s60 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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