Fine Burgess Shale Naraoia “Soft-Bodied Trilobite”

Description: Naraoia compacta is an arthropod found in the Burgess Shale Fauna of British Columbia. It is the only taxon from the region known from both single and multiple examples that presumably succumbed together. It was presumably a benthic organism that made a living walking on the seafloor, using its limbs to sir up the bottom sediment It is the type species of a genus also found in deposits in Utah and Nevada. An older species C. spinosa and the closely-related Misszhouia longicaudata (see my other offerings) are known from the Chengjiang Biota of China. It has a non-calcified exoskeleton, hence the appellation “soft-bodied trilobite”. This one shows wrinkles in the exoskeleton indicative of its soft nature. This wonderful example shows incredible detail for a specimen more than a HALF BILLION years of age.

Coming from the famous Burgess Shale Fauna, this is a highly-desirable member which will make a fine addition to any collection of Cambrian Explosion fossils. It is also quite rare: for each 1000 Burgess specimens only 3 are Naraoia. Since the location is now a World Heritage site only specimens from old collections such as this are available.