Lecythioscopa Explained

Lecythioscopa is a genus of probable archaeopriapulid known from two specimens from the Walcott Quarry from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale.

Morphology

The specimens of Lectythioscopa are both missing their posterior portions, leaving a head, comparable to the proboscis of other priapulids, and long trunk, which is curved in both specimens. The animal was probably a burrower due to its external radial symmetry.

History

The species was originally placed as Canadia simplex by Charles Walcott in a 1931 publication based on a single specimen.[1] Simon Conway Morris later identified what was previously considered a specimen of Canadia dubia as sharing similar features, placing them both under the name of Lecythioscopa simplex.[2]

Notes and References

  1. Walcott, C.D. . 1931 . Addenda to descriptions of Burgess shale fossils . Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections . 85 . 1–42 . 10.1086/623925.
  2. Walcott, C.D. . 1911 . Middle Cambrian Annelids . Cambrian Geology and Paleontology . 2 . 109–142 .