[1][2] This species is known from the Fortunian Yanjiahe Formation (~541.0–534.6 Ma) in Hubei province, China and was first described by Guo et al.[3] who had difficulty in assigning a taxonomy to the animal due to the shared nature of its features between the hemichordates and echinoderms.

Yanjiahella biscarpa was a small, bilateral deuterostome animal typically 20-50 mm in length with a stem, theca and two feeding appendages.

The distal part of the stem is typically curved with lineations indicative of musculature and interpreted as a holdfast used to anchor the animal either erect or prostrate in the sediment.

[3] The classification of Y. biscarpa is difficult due to sharing features with the sister phylum hemichordates, most notably the muscled stalk and linear digestive tract.

Topper et al.[1] proposed that Y. biscarpa was a basal member of the echinoderm family sharing traits with the last common ambulacrarian ancestor.

[1] Yanjiahella biscarpa provides further evidence that echinoderms evolved their familiar pentaradial symmetry after their emergence as a distinct group in the early Cambrian.