While Anomalocaris takes the number one spot for my favorite Cambrian period invertebrate, Opabinia is a very close second, due to its enigmatic anatomy, featuring a strange proboscis, five eyes, and with a body shape that is similar, yet distinct from Anomalocaris and kin. I was of course delighted when I saw that it was part of the From the...
The Canadian Burgess Shale is one of the most important fossil deposits in the world due to the exceptional preservation of its fossils. Located within the Stephen Formation in British Columbia, it was deposited during the middle of the Cambrian period (or the Miaolingian, about 508 Ma). It was once home to a number of strange creatures including many types...
The Cambrian was the very first period of the Paleozoic Era, beginning a little over 538 million years ago and lasting until the start of the Ordovician period 486 million years ago. And during those nearly 52 million years, all manner of weird and wonderful life evolved in the seas. Scores of trilobites, Microdictyon, and Wiwaxia crept along the sandy beds. Swimming above...
Review and images by bmathison1972; edited by Suspsy Goticaris longispinosa is a tiny, enigmatic arthropod originally described from both immature and adult forms from the Orsten Lagerstätten (Upper Cambrian) of present day Sweden. It was originally described as an early offshoot of the clade Pancrustacea but is now considered stem-group Mandibulata outside of Pancrustacea. Its bizarre morphology will be discussed...
Review and images by bmathison1972; edited by Suspsy In 2023, CollectA added Anomalocaris canadensis to its growing collection of Paleozoic invertebrates, following fellow arthropod Redlichia and mollusks Passaloteuthis, Pleuroceras, Orthoceras, Cooperoceras, and Pravitoceras (not to mention an extant nautilus and horseshoe crab). At this point A. canadensis probably doesn’t need much of an introduction on the Blog (I myself...
In life, Wiwaxia was covered in spines and scales that would have made it about as cuddly as a sea urchin, an animal it resembled but was not related to. Good thing then that Paleozoic Pals made this plush Wiwaxia to snuggle with instead. Wiwaxia lived during the early and middle Cambrian which is famously known as the period in...
Review and images by bmathison1972, edited by Suspsy Opabinia regalis is an enigmatic arthropod (or arthropod-like animal) from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale Lagerstätte of present-day British Columbia. It was a benthic predator, scouring the bottom of the Cambrian Seas for soft-bodied prey nearly 505 million years ago. The phylogenetic relationships of O. regalis are far from resolved. Historically, it...
Species from the earliest parts of life on earth, the Palaeozoic, are very rare in toy form. Oh yes, there are plenty of Dimetrodon, Dunkleosteus and even Anomalocaris, but any of the smaller, crucial creatures to the story of life on earth are scarce. Enter Oumcraft, and her game LIFE: evolution of life in earth to put this right, with...
This model is reconstructed with ample attention to detail for this alien-looking wonder from the Cambrian. I’ve had a soft spot for the weirdos in nature since my early childhood, so Opabinia has always been a favorite of mine. This 3 inch long stem arthropod was a denizen of the ocean floors during the middle of the...
However you look at it, Opabinia was a remarkably odd-looking creature – so it’s a natural choice for a big cuddly plush toy, right? I’m guessing most people wouldn’t look at a five-eyed worm with a snaggle-toothed trunk and react with, “Aw, how cute!” Granted, most people aren’t paleontology nerds, either, so your mileage may vary in...
Review and images by bmathison1972, edited by Suspsy Today we are going to look at the history of the enigmatic Cambrian animal Hallucigenia sparsa, by comparing an older, outdated model with one depicting the most recent concept of this species. Hallucigenia sparsa was first described by Charles Doolittle Walcott as a polychaete worm in the genus Canadia. It was not...
Review and photos by bmathison1972, edited by Suspsy Today, we will be looking at an overview of the Cambrian Creatures Mini Model collection released by Favorite Co. Ltd. in 2016. It consists of eight smaller models representing primarily Cambrian invertebrates along with one chordate. All the species presented have been found in the Burgess Shale deposits in North America. For...
