Pikaia gracilens, 2 specimens from the Burgess Shale, replica Triceratops Megalonyx jeffersonii

Megalonyx jeffersonii

not divided into lobes

probably represents low lying areas or very shallow tidal expanses

"plunderer"

Pikaia gracilens, 2 specimens from the Burgess Shale, replica Triceratops Megalonyx jeffersoniiA primitive chordate from the Burgess Shale More than 1 2 billion years old, the fossils of the Burgess Shale fauna preserve for us an intriguing glimpse of early animal life on Earth. These fossils are named after a Cambrian rock formation (the Burgess Shale) that is located in the western Canadian Rockies. They were first discovered there in 1909 by Charles D. Walcott, then Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Living among the variety of