Marrella

Marrella splendens is an arthropod known from the middle Cambrian Burgess Shale of British Columbia. It is the most common animal in the Burgess Shale.

Marrella splendens
File:Marella.png
Fossil Marrella
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Phylum:
Class:
Order:
Family:
Marrellidae

Walcott, 1912
Genus:
Marrella

Walcott, 1912
Species:
M. splendens
Binomial name
Marrella splendens
Walcott, 1912

History

Marrella was the first fossil collected by Charles Doolittle Walcott from the Burgess Shale, in 1909.[1] Walcott described Marrella informally as a "lace crab" and described it more formally as an odd trilobite. In 1971, Whittington did a thorough redescription of the animal. On the basis of its legs, gills, and head appendages, he decided that it was not a trilobite, nor a chelicerate, nor a crustacean.[2]

Marrella-like organisms are found in other Cambrian deposits. They are known from sediments as late as the Devonian.[3]

Marrella Media

References

  1. Gould, Stephen Jay (2000). Wonderful Life: Burgess Shale and the Nature of History. Vintage. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-09-927345-5. OCLC 45316756. Also OCLC 44058853.
  2. Whittington, H. B. (1971). "Redescription of Marrella splendens (Trilobitoidea) from the Burgess Shale, Middle Cambrian, British Columbia". Bulletin – Geological Survey of Canada. Geological Survey of Canada. 209: 1–24.
  3. Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Identifiers at line 630: attempt to index field 'known_free_doi_registrants_t' (a nil value).