Lot 445
COLLECTION OF THE VERY FIRST CAMBRIAN ANIMALS. The 525 million year old fossils of Chengjiang are very important as being the earliest and best preserved of the early Cambrian fossils being 15 million years older than the famous Burgess Shale of Canada. Many types of small weird soft bodied animals are found at Chengjiang and this collection contains four of the most famous. Haikouella was one of the earliest chordates which are the earliest ancestors of the vertebrates. This small swimming animal was only about one inch long but had a head, gills, brain, notochord, heart and circulatory system and perhaps even small eyes. This specimen is 20mm long and shows the gill slits which covered most of their body. Naraoia, a trilobitomorph, is represented by a virtually complete 7mm long specimen that clearly shoes its two body shield sections which separates it from trilobites which had three sections. Anomalocaris was the top predator of the early Cambrian and grew to over three feet in length but usually only the feeding appendages are found because they were the only part of its body that was scelotized (strengthened). This 16mm appendage is typical in looking like a shrimp with legs which is what early paleontologists thought it was. Lastly is a near complete specimen of the bivalve shell(50 x 35mm) of Tuxioa which was a strange looking arthropod with its entire body except for its antennae and tail covered with an ornamented bivalve shell. This unusual grouping is a rare opportunity to study multiple fossils from the earliest site of the Cambrian explosion. This important grouping is housed in a 12 x 8 inch Riker mount for display.
Add $15 for domestic shipping.
Estimated Value $650 - 850.
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