How many known Myllokunmingia specimens are there?

[DardS8Br]

How many Myllokunmingia specimens are known to science? I keep on seeing wildly varying numbers, ranging from 1 to close to 100, and I really want to get a straight answer. 

[DPS Ammonite]

Contact an author of the paper that first described the creature.

 

Shu, D-G.; Luo, H-L.; Conway Morris, S.; Zhang, X-L.; Hu, S-X.; Chen, L.; Han, J.; Zhu, M.; Li, Y.; Chen, L-Z. (1999). "Lower Cambrian vertebrates from south China". Nature. 402 (6757): 42. Bibcode:1999Natur.402...42S. doi:10.1038/46965. S2CID 4402854.

[grandpa]

So here's my shot at a "straight answer".  The exact number of Myloks is - - - UNKNOWN (and in truth, will likely always be within a large degree of certainty)! When you have such a large variance in "scientific" opinion over something as indeterminate as paleontological species ID is to begin with, that variance indicates that the science community is still widely divided in their opinions about what the current evidence indicates.  There is still difference in opinion regarding whether Myloks are verts or inverts after all.  If an agreed upon number of species is to be determined and generally accepted in the future, more specimens and/or new analytical techniques will need to be found.  Stay tuned for a consensus scientific 'answer" to your question.  Many, many more grants, more granted doctorates and more scientific papers will proceed the accepted answer.  (I hope you are very young. )

[jdp]

Only one has been described as far as I know. There's some thought that Myllokunmingia might be the same animal as Haikouichthys, which is much more numerous, but I am not sure about the current status of that discussion.