Dabashanellids are univalved phosphatocopid crustaceans, and are among the earliest crustaceans known so far. They were reported
mainly from the Cambrian Stage 3 of China, but only a single species was established. Here I report a new assemblage of dabashanellids
from the Cambrian Stage 3 Shuijingtuo Formation in western Hubei Province, South China. All specimens are sub-millimetre in length,
and are preserved as three-dimensional carbonaceous hollow shields. Five species of Dabashanella were recognized, including the previously
reported D. hemicyclica, three new species, D. longa n. sp., D. semiorbiculata n. sp., D. unispinata n. sp., and an indeterminate form
Dabashanella sp. In addition, five indeterminate forms of arthropods were recovered. These dabashanellids represent part of a meiofauna
that lived in the off-shore, deeper environments of mid-northern Yangtze Sea during Cambrian Age 3. This study shows greater morphological
diversity and ecologic disparity of dabashanellid crustaceans, and supports the previous suggestion that the invasion of meiofaunal
ecdysozoans into the off-shore, deeper environments probably occurred simultaneously with their radiation in the shallow water.
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