Ooedigera

Ooedigera Temporal range: Early Cambrian
Artist's reconstruction
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Superphylum:	Deuterostomia
Phylum:	Vetulicolia Shu, et al. 2001
Family:	Vetulicolidae
Genus:	Ooedigera
Species:	O. peeli

Ooedigera peeli is an extinct deuterostome from the Early Cambrian Sirius Passet Lagerstatte^[1] of Greenland. So far, it is the third described vetulicolian that is not restricted to the Maotianshan Shales (the other two being Banffia of the Burgess Shale, and Skeemella of the Wheeler Shale).

Anatomy

O. peeli is known from a single fossil that depicts a 41.3 mm long organism with an egg-shaped carapace and a laterally compressed, paddle-shaped tail. It strongly resembles various members of the Maotianshan genus, Vetulicola, in shape. It differs from Vetulicola, in that the carapace is ornamented with numerous raised tubercles, similar to the ornamentation of Beidazoon venustum. The taphonomy of the fossil also suggests that the integument of the animal was softer than that of either genus.

Etymology

The genus name translates as "Geriatric Egg" or "Elderly Egg," in reference to the fossil being the oldest known vetulicolian. The species name commemorates Professor John S. Peel for his work in paleontology in Greenland.

References

1. ^ Vinther, J.; Smith, M. P.; Harper, D. A. T. (2011). "Vetulicolians from the Lower Cambrian Sirius Passet Lagerstätte, North Greenland, and the polarity of morphological characters in basal deuterostomes". Palaeontology 54 (3): 711–719. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2011.01034.x.  edit