Description

Waptia fieldensis and Burgessia bella plus unidentified animal
Cambrian
Burgess Shale, Stephens Formation
Field, British Columbia, BC, Canada.

48mm Waptia including antenna; 11mm Burgessia including telson; Unknown 8 mm; matrix 110 x 70 mm. Incredibly rare preservation of multiple animals from the Burgess Shale. Only pairing of this kind we have ever seen.

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.

Burgessia is an extinct genus of soft-bodied arthropod of uncertain affinities.  There hasn’t been a consensus on assigning it to a particular family nor order nor class.  It is known only from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale.  It is remarkable among arthropods in that in life its telson apparently exhibited some degree of flexibility.