Biology:Worthenella

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Short description: Extinct genus of arthropods

Worthenella
Temporal range: Burgess Shale
Walcott Cambrian Geology and Paleontology II plate 22 (Fig 2).jpg
Type specimen of W. cambria in shale
Scientific classification e
Missing taxonomy template (fix): Incertae sedis/Arthropoda
Family: Kootenichelidae
Genus: Worthenella
Walcott, 1911[1]
Type species
Worthenella cambria
Walcott, 1911[1]

Worthenella is a genus of enigmatic arthropod from the Burgess Shale. It known from a single specimen described initially as an annelid by Charles Doolittle Walcott in 1911. The body is elongate and myriapod-like with a head and at least 46 body segments. The head bears poorly preserved appendages, while filamentous branched structures appear to run along the underside of the first 34 trunk segments, with the posterior 8 suggested to have had longer appendages.[2] In 2013, David Legg placed it in the family Kootenichelidae as a sister to Kootenichela , based on the supposed presence of antenniform head appendages.[3] However, this position was questioned in a later study, which argued that the supposed antenniform appendages were actually taphonomic artefacts.[4]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Walcott, Charles D. (1911). "Cambrian Geology and Paleontology II. Middle Cambrian annelids.". Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 57 (5): 125–127. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/9263183Pl. 22, Fig. 2. 
  2. "Worthenella cambria" (in en-US). Royal Ontario Museum. https://burgess-shale.rom.on.ca/fossils/worthenella-cambria/. 
  3. Legg, David (2013). "Multi-Segmented Arthropods from the Middle Cambrian of British Columbia (Canada)". Journal of Paleontology 87 (3): 493–501. doi:10.1666/12-112.1. Bibcode2013JPal...87..493L. 
  4. Lamsdell, James C.; Stein, Martin; Selden, Paul A. (September 2013). "Kodymirus and the case for convergence of raptorial appendages in Cambrian arthropods" (in en). Naturwissenschaften 100 (9): 811–825. doi:10.1007/s00114-013-1081-y. ISSN 0028-1042. PMID 23893175. Bibcode2013NW....100..811L. http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00114-013-1081-y. 

Wikidata ☰ Q4020992 entry