Mackenzia
Encyclopedia
Mackenzia is a genus of brachiopod
known from the Middle Cambrian
Burgess Shale
. It attached directly to hard surfaces. Mackenzia was originally described by Charles Walcott in 1911 as a holothurian enchinoderm.
Brachiopod
Brachiopods are a phylum of marine animals that have hard "valves" on the upper and lower surfaces, unlike the left and right arrangement in bivalve molluscs. Brachiopod valves are hinged at the rear end, while the front can be opened for feeding or closed for protection...
known from the Middle Cambrian
Cambrian
The Cambrian is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, lasting from Mya ; it is succeeded by the Ordovician. Its subdivisions, and indeed its base, are somewhat in flux. The period was established by Adam Sedgwick, who named it after Cambria, the Latin name for Wales, where Britain's...
Burgess Shale
Burgess Shale
The Burgess Shale Formation, located in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, is one of the world's most celebrated fossil fields, and the best of its kind. It is famous for the exceptional preservation of the soft parts of its fossils...
. It attached directly to hard surfaces. Mackenzia was originally described by Charles Walcott in 1911 as a holothurian enchinoderm.