An Unusual Arthropod from Chengjiang Biota
"A Possibly Undescribed Malacostracan"

Class Malacostraca, Subclass Euamalacostraca

Geological Time: Early Cambrian (~525 million years ago)

Size (25.4 mm = 1 inch): 31 mm long on a 32 mm by 41 mm matrix

Fossil Site: Chengjiang Maotianshan Shales - Quiongzhusi Section, Yu’anshan Member, Heilinpu Formation, Mafang Village, Haikou County, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China

Code: CJF424

Price: $395.00 - sold

Malacostraca Chengjiang BiotaDescription: This unusual specimen is thought to be an as yet undescribed member of the Eumalacostraca. The Malacpstracans today are some 20,000 species strong, with the Eumalacostraca composed of the members known as crustaceans like crabs, lobsters, shrimp, and krill.

With the discovery of the Chengjiang Biota in 1984 a window on the Cambrian Explosion in China was opened. The diversity of soft-tissue fossils is astonishing: algae, medusiforms, sponges, priapulids, annelid like worms, echinoderms, arthropods (including trilobites), hemichordates, chordates, and the first agnathan fish make up just a small fraction of the total. Numerous problematic forms are known as well, some of which may have represented failed attempts at diversity that did not persist to the present day.

Also see: Chengjiang Biota Fauna List Chengjiang Fossils

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