Description

Hyolithid
Middle Cambrian
Spence Shale
Bear River Range, High Creek, Utah, USA

13mm brachiopod and 19mm hyolithid on 50mm shale.

Wimanella is a brachiopod genus that lived during the Cambrian Period and is known from various parts of North America and Australia.

Hyolithes is a genus of hyolithid, a group of shelled invertebrates of uncertain classification though the latest research places them perhaps related to brachiopods.  They reached their greatest abundance and diversity during the Cambrian but suffered greatly during the mass extinction at the end of that period.  The group did not recover as well as some other groups but remained widespread and survived into the Permian before becoming extinct.

This specimen is an interesting association piece with two specimens representing two different animal groups possibly having a common ancestor.