Selkirkia
Encyclopedia
Selkirkia is a genus of predatory priapulid worm known from the Middle Cambrian
Burgess Shale
. In the Burgess Shale, 20% of the tapering, organic-walled tubes are preserved with the worm inside them, whereas the other 80% are empty (or sometimes occupied by one or more small agnostid trilobites). Whilst alive, the tubes were probably vertical, whereas trilobite-occupied tubes are horizontal.
Members Cambrorhytium
were originally described as Selkirkia before their identification as a separate genus.
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...
. In the Burgess Shale, 20% of the tapering, organic-walled tubes are preserved with the worm inside them, whereas the other 80% are empty (or sometimes occupied by one or more small agnostid trilobites). Whilst alive, the tubes were probably vertical, whereas trilobite-occupied tubes are horizontal.
Members Cambrorhytium
Cambrorhytium
Cambrorhytium is an enigmatic fossil genus known from the Latham shale , and the Chengjiang and Burgess Shale lagerstätte The fossil is conical, with iterated linear markings on its walls, parallel to its base...
were originally described as Selkirkia before their identification as a separate genus.