Urokodia Unusual Chengjiang Biota Arthropod

Urokodia aequlais

Phylum Arthropoda

Geological Time: Early Cambrian (~525 million years ago)

Size (25.4mm=1 inch): Fossil is 15 mm long by 5 mm wide on a 55 mm by 55 mm matrix

Fossil Site: Chengjiang Biota, Quiongzhusi Section, Yu’anshan Member, Heilinpu Formation, Mafang Village, Haikou County, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China

Fossil Code: CJF1056

Price: Sold


Urokodia aequlaisDescription: This unusual arthropod is known as Urokodia aequalis. The species was described from only a few (~15) examples. With the discovery of the Chengjiang Biota in 1984 a window on the Cambrian Explosion in China was opened. The diversity of soft-tissue fossils is astonishing: algae, medusiforms, sponges, priapulids, annelid like worms, echinoderms, arthropods (including trilobites), hemichordates, chordates, and the first Urokodiaagnathan fish make up just a small fraction of the total. Numerous problematic forms are known as well, some of which may have represented failed attempts at diversity that did not persist to the present day.

The taxon bears some resemblance to the younger Burgess Shale genus Mollisonia, which has been found in the younger Kaili Biota of China as well. The species derives its name from the equivalent size and approximate appearance of both the posterior and anterior shields. It is thought to have been a bottom-dwelling animal, most likely a scavenger, but little is actually known since the only soft tissue preservation found to date is a stout antenna.

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