Exceptional Priapulid Fossil from Cambrian Utah
"Burgess Shale Like Soft Tissue Preservation"

Louisella sp.

Phylum Priapulida

Geological Time: Upper Middle Cambrian

Size: (25.4mm=1 inch): 21 mm long on a 53 mm by 53 mm and a 62 mm by 59 mm matrix pair

Fossil Site: Weeks Formation, House Range, Millard County, Utah

Fossil Code: UB135

Price: $435.00 - sold


Priapulid FossilDescription: This unusual specimen shows a priapulid worm known as Louisella in a fine part/counterpart example. The worm was once thought to be a polychate, but is now know to be a priapulid. Priapulid worms are among the fossils also found in the Burgess shale and older Chengjiang Biota, and ancestors are still extant today. They are as biologically complex as arthropods, and are thus important in the Cambrian fossil record. Taxonomically, they belong to a group named the Cephalorhyncha that are ecdysozoan animals -- encompassing the arthropods (insects, spiders, and crustaceans) and the nemotodes. The grouping is based on a set of shared characters including the presence of a cuticle and the fact that they periodically shed their cuticle in a process called ecdysis. All cephalorhynchs have a spiny proboscis that is used to gather food.

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