Early arthropod — Waptia fieldensis

Geologic period: Middle Cambrian

Age: Approximately 505 million years ago.

Feeding: Diet should be treated as ecological interpretation rather than something directly demonstrated by every specimen.

Locomotion: Appendage anatomy supports active movement through or along the marine environment.

Body plan: Bivalved carapace covering the front of a segmented arthropod body with paired appendages.

Evidence: Complete specimens preserve appendages and, in some cases, gut contents.

Why it matters: Waptia preserves delicate anatomy that normally disappears, making it important for understanding early arthropod evolution.

Plain Language Identity: A bivalved Cambrian arthropod from the Burgess Shale.

What You Are Looking At: A segmented arthropod body with a carapace, antennae, appendages and trunk structures that can be preserved with exceptional detail.

Ecosystem: Burgess Shale marine ecosystem.

Preservation: Exceptional Burgess Shale soft-body preservation.

Open Questions: Do not assign behavior to the Smithsonian specimen unless that behavior is supported by the actual fossil evidence.

Source Urls: https://naturalhistory.si.edu/visit/virtual-tour/current-exhibits/deep-time-virtual-tour-fossil-list; https://burgess-shale.rom.on.ca/fossils/waptia-fieldensis/

Enrichment Method: SAGE curated research pass; title and scientific name matched; evidence separated from inference

Scientific name: Waptia fieldensis

Evidence / representation: comparative_exact_taxon_visual

comparative_exact_taxon_visual

Oceans Before Dinosaurs: The Rise of Complex Animal Life.

Media license: CC BY-SA 4.0

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0