Partially preserved cornulitid feeding apparatuses from the lowest Silurian of South China support the lophophorate affinities of this enigmatic group

Circular structures observed at the apertures of several Cornulites specimens from the earliest Silurian of China are interpreted as possible fossilized remains of a lophophore with a simple, ring-like morphology. These structures may represent partial preservation of the feeding apparatus, with the absence of tentacle preservation likely resulting from taphonomic processes. The preserved rim surrounding the circular structure likely reflects the thickness of the lophophore and its tentacles, while a neck-like extension visible in one specimen is interpreted as the basal region of the lophophore. Specimens displaying a partially extended lophophore suggest that Cornulites individuals may have been capable of retracting their lophophore entirely into the shell, between feeding episodes, although complete retraction remains speculative. These partial soft-tissue remains support the classification of cornulitids as lophophorates. However, the available evidence remains insufficient to definitively resolve whether cornulitids are more closely related to bryozoans or phoronids. As the only shelled benthic fossils in the Huangshi deposits, cornulitids seemed to have been opportunistic organisms which were able to colonize and thrive in oxygen-deficient palaeoenvironments following the Late Ordovician mass extinction.