"A Middle Ordovician Burgess Shale-type fauna from Castle Bank, Wales (UK)", published 1 May 2023

[ceratopsian]

This article by Joseph Botting et al. sounds interesting, published a couple of days ago in Nature.  Here's the link to the abstract:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-023-02038-4

The importance of the find seems to be this:  "Here we present the Castle Bank fauna: a highly diverse Middle Ordovician Burgess Shale-type fauna from Wales (UK) that is directly comparable with the Burgess Shale and Chengjiang biotas in palaeoenvironment and preservational style. The deposit includes animals with morphologies similar to the iconic Cambrian taxa Opabinia, Yohoia and Wiwaxia, combined with early examples of more derived groups such as barnacles."   (My bolding.)

However, it is paywalled.  Can you perhaps help those of us who would like to see it, @Halichoeres?

[Halichoeres]

My current employer does not have access, but my future employer does. Luckily I already have the login for their library system! So yes, if anyone wants the pdf, just send me a message with your email address (or just email me if we've corresponded that way previously).

Meanwhile, here's an example of one of the fossils, a bivalved arthropod:

The scale bar in the larger photo is 1 mm!

And a reconstruction of the biota by DH Yang:

Quite a lot more in common with Cambrian biotas than I would have expected, and less of the subsequent, more stereotypical Paleozoic biotas. I'll be excited to actually read this in detail.

[ceratopsian]

Here's a layman's article in The Guardian with some background information on the site and find:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/may/01/couple-unearths-one-of-worlds-greatest-fossil-finds-in-mid-wales

[Crackington]

Thanks for posting @ceratopsian and @Halichoeres. I saw the Guardian article too the other day and was pleased to note that the site is anticipated to yield many discoveries for years to come.

I also notice an Ottoia like species in the illustration, alongside the others mentioned earlier. Amazing how tiny they all are!

[ceratopsian]

I noted the Ottoia look-alike too and pointed out to my long-suffering husband my own little Ottoia, conveniently close at hand on the sideboard, @Crackington.

[Crackington]

Yes, always wise to keep a Cambrian creature nearby! I hope Mr Ceratopsian appreciated it!

[ceratopsian]

He tries hard, bless him!

[Halichoeres]

Naturally, I'm going to want toys of all these weirdos.