I hold an MSc from Northeastern University, where I studied late Carboniferous coral and sponge reefs, and a PhD from Northwest University and Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 on ecdysozoan origins and early radiation. I subsequently completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Northwest University and was awarded the Humboldt postdoctoral fellowship in Kassel University.

Research grants and awards

2023 Open for collaboration grant from Yunnan Key Laboratory for Palaeobiology, Yunnan University, “The origin of main organs in cycloneuralian fossils”, PI.

2022 The China Post-doctoral Science Foundation, “Integrative phylogenetic methods to analyse the affinities of fossil ecdysozoan worms”, PI.

2022 Nation Science Foundation of China, “The study on the Lobopodia from the Kuanchuanpu biota at the basal, Cambrian, south Shaanxi Province”, PI.

2019 A program of “Early diversification of animal phyla in lowermost Cambrian (ca 535 Ma): fossil evidence from the Kuanchuanpu Formation, Shaanxi Province, China” funded by CNRS (France) and NSFC (China). Co-I.

2017 Graduate program in Northwest University, “The preservation of Small Shelly Fossils from the Kuanchuanpu Formation, southern Shaanxi Province”, PI.

Publications:

Wang D., Vannier J., Martín-Durán J., Herranz M. & Yu C. (2025): Preservation and early evolution of scalidophoran ventral nerve cord. Science Advances 11:eadr0896.

Zhang Y., Wang X., Han J., Zhang T., Yong Y., Yu C., Xiao J., He K., Wang D., Yang X. (2025): Dynamic simulations of feeding and respiration of the early Cambrian periderm-bearing cnidarian polyps. eLife 12:RP90211.

Yong, Y., Wang, X., Van Iten, H., Bruthansová, J., Wang, D., Yang, X., Guo, J., Hao, W., Sun, J., Song, X. & Han, J. (2024): The transverse disc‐like diaphragm in the basal Cambrian medusozoan Olivooides: its nature, possible functions and evolutionary implications. Papers in Palaeontology 10:e1603.

Wang D., Qiang Y., Guo J., Vannier J., Song Z., Peng J., Zhang B., Sun J., Yu Y., Zhang Y., Zhang T., Yang X. & Han J. (2024): Early evolution of ecdysozoan body plan. eLife 13:RP94709.

Chen A., Vannier J., Guo J., Wang D., Gąsiorek P., Han J. & Ma W. (2024): Molting in early Cambrian armored lobopodians. Communications Biology 7:820.

Yu C., Wang D. & Han J. (2024): Cambrian palaeoscolecidomorph Cricocosmia caught in the act of moulting. Historical Biology 37:1–7.

Wang D., Vannier J., Sun J., Yu C. & Han J. (2023): A new Chengjiang worm shed light on the radiation and disparity of early Priapulida. Biology 12:1242.

Zhang Y., Zhang T., Yong Y., Yu C., Xiao J., He K., , Wang X., Wang B., Yang X. & Han J. (2023): Effect of boundary layer on simulation of benthic microfossils in coastal seabed. Earth Science Frontiers 31:410–422.

Yue N., Song Z., Wang D., He K., Yong Y., Hao Y., Yu C., Sun J., Guo J., Tian Y. & Han J. (2023): Scaly ornaments microstructure of Mediata (Mollusca) from the Kuanchuanpu Formation during the Fortunian stage (Cambrian) in the southern Shaanxi. Acta Micropalaeontologica Sinica 40:1–12.

Yu C., Wang D., Yong Y., Tang Q, Hao W., Sun J., Yang X., He K., Yue N. & Han J, (2022): Ecdysis of Eopriapulites sphinx from the early Cambrian Kuanchuanpu biota. Acta Micropalaeontologica Sinica 39:285-291.

Wang D., Vannier J., Aria C., Sun J. & Han J. (2021): Tube-dwelling in early animals exemplified by Cambrian scalidophoran worms. BMC Biology 19:1-20.

Yang X., Vannier J., Yang J., Wang D. & Zhang X. (2021): Priapulid worms from the Cambrian of China shed light on reproduction in early animals. Geoscience Frontiers 12:101234.

Jörger, K.M., Álvaro, N.V., Andrade, L.F., Araújo, T.Q., Aramayo, V., Artois, T., Ballentine, W., Bergmeier, F.S., Botelho, A.Z., Buckenmeyer, A., Capucho, A.T., Cherneva, I., Curini-Galletti, M., Davison, A.M., Wang, D., Di Domenico, M., Ellison, C., Engelhardt, J., Fais, M., Fontaneto, D., Frade, D.G.,de FriasMartins, A.M., Goetz, F., Hochberg, R., Jesus-Navarrete, A., Jondelius, U., Jondelius, Y., Luckas, N., Garcia, A.M., Mikhlina, A., Neusser, T.P., Norenburg, J.L., Pardo, J.C.F., Peixoto, A., Roberts, N., Savchenko, A., Schmidt-Rhaesa, A., Tödter, L., Yap-Chiongco, M. & Costa, A.C.R (2021): Meiozores 2019-Exploring the marine meiofaunal of the Azores. Acoreana 11: 17-41.

Wang, D., Vannier, J., Yang, X., Sun, J., Sun, Y., Hao, W., Tang, Q., Liu P. & Han, J. (2020): Cuticular reticulation replicates the pattern of epidermal cells in lowermost Cambrian scalidophoran worms. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 287:20200470.

Wang, D., Vannier, J., Schumann I., Wang X., Yang, X., Komiya T., Uesugi K., Sun, J. & Han, J. (2019): Origin of ecdysis: fossil evidence from 535-million-year-old scalidophoran worms. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 286: 20190791.

Zhang Y., Gong E., Wilson M., Guan C., Chen X., Huang W., Wang D., Miao Z. (2018): Palaeoecology of Late Carboniferous encrusting chaetetids in North China. Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments 98:205-223.

Wang D., Zhang Y., Gong E., Guan C., Wang J., Huang W., Miao Z., Ruan M., Chen Q. & Li X. (2017): Growth morphology of Chaetetids and buildup of late Carboniferous reefs along the Taizi River, eastern Liaoning. Acta Geological Sinica 91:2309-2321.

Miao Z., Zhang Y., Gong E., Guan C., Ruan M., Huang W. & Wang D. (2016): Sedimentary environment and microfacies analysis of the Lower Carboniferous microbial carbonates in the Dujie Village, Long’an County, Guangxi. Geological review 62: 1134-1148.