Name: Tasmanadia
twelvetreesi
Geological
Time: Late Carboniferous (~290 Million Years Old)
Size: Trackways:
60 mm long, 8 mm across, and 17 mm long by 5 mm across, Matrix: 78 mm
by 46 mm
Fossil Site:
Wynyard Tillite, Hellyer Gorge, Tasmania, Australia
Description:
This trackway looks like some ascribed to trilobites,
but was actually made by an arthropod of the family Anaspididae.
The extant members of this family are endemic to Tasmania, and have
been termed “living fossils”. They are a small (10 mm)
freshwater arthropod comprised of 5 species in 3 genera. Like these
living members, the trackways have only been found in Tasmania.
The detail is quite good, with the specimen affording a most unique
opportunity to own a moment in time frozen for nearly 300 million
years. Note the smaller secondary trackway the proceeds from the
lower right corner, intersecting the major one at right center of
the full piece photograph.
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