Description

Waptia fieldensis
Cambrian
Burgess Shale, Stephens Formation
Field, British Columbia, BC, Canada.

60mm 0n 85mm x 60mm slab. Very visible eye. Easily one of the best we have ever had.

Waptia is an extinct genus of arthropod that is shrimp-like in form but it is different enough that it hasn’t been classified within any family of crustacean nor any family of arthropods for that matter – another unsolved mystery of the Burgess Shale over 100 years after its discovery.  It does appear to be at least related to the ancestors of crustaceans.