Name: Elrathina (= Ptychoparella) cordillerae (Rominger, 1887) (Canada Trilobites)
Class Trilobita, Trilobite Order Ptychopariida, Superfamily Ptychoparioidea; Family: Alokistocaridae
Geological Time: Middle Cambrian (about 505 Mya)
Size: 24 to 28 mm
Fossil Site: Walcott Quarry Shale Member, Burgess Shale, British Columbia, Canada
This
trilobite mass mortality plate is from what is probably the most famous
fossil site in the world, the Walcott Quarry of the Burgess Shale. While
the formation is mainly known for exquisite soft-body preservation of
animals of the Cambrian Explosion, it also has abundant trilobites, with
well over 100 described spcies across the formation's many members.
This plate contains three Elrathina cordillerae
(now called Ptychoparella cordillerae), described by Rominger in the late
19th century. The Burgess Shale and nearby Stephen Formations outcrop
mainly in Banff and Yoho National Parks in the Alberta-British Columbia
border area. All known outcrops are in Canada's Rocky Mountain Parks,
so collecting is strictly forbidden.
