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theconversation.com/humans-closest-invertebr... https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adu2291 (abstract only). "Most striking of all, we found the oldest #evidence for the group to […]

CAMBRIAN SUBMARINES: OPABINIA REGALIS Meet one of the most wonderfully peculiar animals to ever grace our ancient seas. This five-eyed marvel swam through the Cambrian oceans some 508 million years ago, its soft body drifting above the seafloor of what is now British Columbia—preserved in exquisite detail within the famed Burgess Shale of Yoho National Park. At first glance, _Opabinia regalis_ feels almost mischievous in its design. I think of them as Cambrian submarines. Five stalked eyes sit atop its head like a crown of periscopes, scanning a world teeming with early life. Along its sides, a series of delicate lobes ripple in coordinated waves, propelling it forward with gentle, undulating grace. But it is the feeding apparatus that truly steals the show—a long, flexible proboscis ending in a tiny claw, perfectly suited for plucking soft prey from the seafloor and delivering it to its backward-facing mouth tucked beneath the head. Yes—five eyes. And a claw-tipped trunk. Nature was experimenting, and _Opabinia_ was one of her boldest sketches. When Charles Doolittle Walcott first described this curious creature in 1912, it puzzled generations of paleontologists. At the time, he believed it was an anostracan branchiopod. I don't see the resemblance but I wasn't looking at a fossil mystery with his lived experience of the time. Walcott named the species _Opabinia_ after Opabin Peak in the Canadian Rockies. While his initial classification as a crustacean was later debated and revised by researchers like Harry Whittington in the 1970s—who identified it as a far more enigmatic "weird wonder"—Walcott's 1912 publication remains the initial scientific description of this marvelous fancy of nature. For decades, its place on the tree of life remained uncertain, its anatomy so unlike anything alive today that it seemed almost alien. Thanks to the careful work of Harry Whittington and colleagues—that _Opabinia_ was understood as part of an early branch of arthropod evolution, a relative—albeit a very strange one—of the lineage that would eventually give rise to insects, crustaceans and spiders. Soft-bodied and delicate, _Opabinia_ would never have fossilized under ordinary circumstances. It is only through the extraordinary preservation of the Burgess Shale—where rapid burial in fine mud and low-oxygen conditions halted decay—that we are gifted this glimpse into deep time’s more experimental chapters. In _Opabinia_ , we see evolution not as a straight line, but as a riot of possibilities—forms tried, tested, and sometimes abandoned with countless strange and beautiful designs flickering briefly before fading into the stone. I am truly thrilled that we got a chance to see this one as so many never had the chance to fossilize and we'll never get to know their quirky selves.

CAMBRIAN SUBMARINES: OPABINIA REGALIS

#Burgess #cambrian #charles #creatures #doolittle #eyes #fossils #funny #opabinia #Shale #stalk

Origin | Interest | Match

New fossil deposits show complex animal groups predating the Cambrian https://arstechni.ca #paleontology #ediacaran #evolution #Cambrian #Science #Biology #fossils

Iridescent Opabinia in colored pencil. It has five eyes, a trunk-like appendage ending in a claw, and fins down its buggy body.

Opabinia! I wasn't too sure about the colors at first, and I'm a bit rusty with colored pencils, but I like how this one turned out. Paleozoic life is fun.
#paleoart #cambrian #paleozoic #coloredpencil #traditionalart

#Cambrian ( /ˈkæmbri.ən, ˈkeɪm-/ KAM-bree-ən, KAYM-) is the first geological period of the #Paleozoic Era and the #Phanerozoic Eon.[5] The Cambrian lasted 51.95 millio

#Cambrian ( /ˈkæmbri.ən, ˈkeɪm-/ KAM-bree-ən, KAYM-) is the first geological period of the #Paleozoic Era and the #Phanerozoic Eon.[5] The Cambrian lasted 51.95 millio

TAPHONOMY AND PALEOENVIRONMENTAL SIGNIFICANCE OF SILICIFIED CYANOBACTERIAL FOSSILS IN THE EARLY CAMBRIAN HARKLESS FORMATION, NEVADA, USA | PALAIOS | GeoScienceWorld Abstract. Primary producers play a critical role in marine ecosystems and global biogeochemical cycling, but the limited preservation of soft-bodied

It’s been a big week! Another new paper out in Palaios describing some awesome silicified cyanobacteria fossils and their taphonomic history. #fossils #cyanobacteria #cambrian

doi.org/10.2110/palo...

An grey-brown t-shirt sporting an Arthropleura with light green ferns.

A sticker of a big-eyed Anomalocaris asking if you have trilobites.

A light grey long sleeve with a T-Rex design. The Rex sports a gold crown and purple cape.

A set of four coasters. Each with a bust design of Spinosaurus Mirabilis.

In celebration of the launch of my RedBubble store, I’m sharing just a few of the products up for sale.

These are just 4 from a collection of 30 designs that are available!

🦖🦐🐛🌿
#art #dinosaur #paleoart #anomalocaris #cambrian #prehistoric #artforsale #redbubble

Criatura segmentada y curvada que, en la zona inferior de dicha curva, tiene un pendúnculo que lo conecta al sustrato. En extremo superior tiene dos ramificaciones.

El Herpetogaster fue un animal, posiblemente gregario, de 3-4 cm del Cámbrico temprano (505 MdA) con un estolón que lo fijaba al suelo oceánico y unos tentáculos con los que podría haber capturado su alimento. 📷Marianne Collins #cambrico #cambrian

Criatura ovoide cubierta de bordes de púas fijas con una hendidura horizontal en un lado.

El Saccorhytus coronarius fue un animal del Cámbrico (540 MdA) de 1,3 mm con una gran boca. Probablemente formara parte de la meiofauna, viviendo en la arena. 📷PaleoEquii #cambrico #cambrian

New insights on ​the Cambrian ROECE event🦀

​By combining new CAS sulfur isotope data with COPSE modeling, we’ve identified a link between anoxic water shoaling and the C-S isotope excursions during this trilobite turnover.

doi.org/10.1016/j.gl...

#Geochemistry #Cambrian #EarthScience #AcademicSky

Pez con una aleta dorsal que conecta con la cola y dos aletas anales más pequeñas que hacen lo mismo.

El Myllokunmingia fengjiaoa fue un cordado del Cámbrico inferior (518 MdA) de 28 mm de largo. No hay consenso sobre si se trata un vertebrado pero, si lo fuera, sería el más antiguo conocido. Tenía cuatro ojos, conservándose los dos centrales en nuestra glándula pineal. 📷Nix #cambrico #cambrian

This Burgess Shale criter is one of the oldest confirmed chelicerate, and the oldest as of date to show clear recognizable chelicerae. Fossilization of numerous non-mineralised tissues allowed scientists to study this arthropod in a lot of detail. Size : 2,5 to 3cm of body length Time period : Late Cambrian Paleoart speculativometer : Few missing details The animal drawn looks like a shrimp with a short, round & domed head without antennae

What time is it? It’s #Cheliceratime & #Fossilfriday!
For this entry we're talking about one of the oldest chelicerate, Mollisonia plenovenatrix!

All the basic infos are here but if you want to learn more, there’s more below!⬇️

#arthropod #cambrian #paleoart #sciart #bugsky #invert
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Digital sketch of a Orygmapsis trilobite that appears to have outer space galaxy within, through, and behind it. It has a science fiction style crown that resembles a small solar system floating above its head.

Wow, I have NOT been good about uploading art. This is from this past November to celebrate @kaoruicchi.bsky.social birthday. The title in the corner "Orygmapsis Spatiumrex" is a fictional species of the real genus of trilobite. #cambrian #arthropod #paleoart #SciArt

Maqueta. Criatura con una estructura de apariencia dura con dos arcos conectados por el centro, el anterior más abierto y el posterior más cerrado. Tiene dos antenas curvas y, debajo de los arcos, una especie de raquis con proyecciones perpendiculares.

Marrella splendens fue un artrópodo marino filtrador del Cámbrico medio (507-497 MdA). Gracias a un fósil en ecdisis, se sabe que mudaba su exoesqueleto. 🏛️Museo de las Ciencias de Trento #cambrico #cambrian

Criatura fusiforme, con dos láminas a modo de aletas en los laterales de cada segmento, cubriendo los 11 pares de patas. Tiene dos grandes apéndices anteriores.

El Kerygmachela kierkegaardi es un lobopodio (como el "gusano" de Shingeki no kyojin) branquiado del Cámbrico (521-514 MdA) similar al radiodonto Anomalocaris. Aunque se cree que fue un depredador, su boca pequeña habría restringido el tamaño de sus presas. 📷Junnn11 #cambrico #cambrian

It’s the Caaaambrian explosion! 💥 Well…more like evolutionary radiation.

Wanna learn more? Head to bit.ly/cambrian-diorama & tune in next week for another #FossilFriday feature from the Paleo Research Institute collection
www.digitalatlasofancientlife.org/vc/

#Fossil #Paleontology #Cambrian #STEM

Why Early Vertebrates Had Four Eyes (And What It Means) Yes. Multiple exceptionally preserved Cambrian fossils indicate that early vertebrates had four eyes: two large lateral eyes and a second, smaller median pair on the top of the head. In these fossils, all four were camera-type organs with pigment and lenses, and the median pair corresponds to the ancestral pineal complex that later became non-visual in most lineages. The new evidence comes from myllokunmingid vertebrates about 518 million years old described in…

Turns out some early vertebrates rocked four eyes. What were those extra peepers for—and what do they reveal about our own biology? Dive into the fossils and weigh in: smart adaptation or evolutionary leftover? #Cambrian #myllokunmingids #parietaleye #pinealgland #vertebrateevolution

Trilobite con dos espinas en la parte frontal del cefalon que se curvan hacia atrás, sobrepasando al resto del cuerpo.

Bristolia insolens es un trilobite del Cámbrico inferior (522-516 MdA) con enormes espinas genales, situadas frente a los ojos y curvadas hacia atrás.📷YXWYX #trilobite #cambrico #cambrian

ROSESELSA CAMBRIAN: A New Standard for Affordable Wireless Headphones ROSESELSA launches CAMBRIAN, a wireless headphone benchmark at $54.99, featuring advanced noise cancellation and remarkable battery life.

ROSESELSA CAMBRIAN: A New Standard for Affordable Wireless Headphones #China #Chengdu #Cambrian #ROSESELSA #Noise_Cancelling

A hypothetical sticker sheet I did as an assignment for one of my classes, I would love to make it real one day.
#cambrian #paleoart

Also just saw news today of some #EarlyVertebrates, from the half billion years ago #Cambrian period of course as I’ve been known, like some early proto fish, apparently some of them had #FourEyes?! Also for days i’ve heard that the enigmatic #Prototaxites may not have been some giant mushroom?

Shallow underwater illustration of various Cambrian animals including early vertebrates swimming above different trilobites in dappled light.

Cambrian illustration for James Stryker's paleoart project.

#Illustration #Paleoart #Paleoillustration #Cambrian

Stunning Fossil Site Reveals Life Rebounding After Major Extinction Event An artistic reconstruction of the Huayuan ecosystem. (Zeng et al., Nature, 2026) Science Alert has a story about the discovery of a new Cambrian lagerstatte in China. The site preserves an entire ecosystem in stunning detail. There are about 40 Cambrian sites worldwide that exhibiting exquisite preservation of rarely preserved, non-mineralized soft tissue. Add this newly discovered 512 million years old fossil site in Hunan, South China, named the Huayuan biota.

Stunning Fossil Site Reveals Life Rebounding After Major Extinction Event #fossils #paleontology #China #Cambrian #lagerstatte

#bskyart #surrealism #iconoplasm #AIArt #AIArtist #AIArtwork #AIimages #GenArt #DigitalArt #AIArtGallery #AIGeneratedArt #AIArtCommunity #synthart #surrealism #cambrian #tachyon #meconium #sigil

Sigil 3980: Inferential Meconium

Huge fossil bonanza preserves 512-million-year-old ecosystem A treasure trove of Cambrian fossils has been discovered in southern China, providing a window on marine life shortly after Earth’s first mass extinction event

#cambrian #fossils #china

"An extraordinary 512-million-year-old fossil site has been discovered in southern China, preserving in vivid detail almost an entire ecosystem from a time shortly after Earth’s first mass extinction event [Sinsk event]."

www.newscientist.com/article/2513...

A new Cambrian soft-bodied biota after the first Phanerozoic mass extinction: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Many non-bilaterian animals including beautiful sponge (panel b, c) and ctenophore (panel d) fossils🤩 🧽🪼.

#sponges #ctenophores #Cambrian

Listened to a podcast about weird evolutionary paths critters took and it was mostly about #BurgessShale cuties. I should see if there's a set of magnets for those on Etsy or something.

Also, puzzling out what they looked like from the #fossils? Madness. I doff my hat to ya. #science #cambrian

Early vertebrates had FOUR eyes. Not two. I'm obsessed with the chaos of evolution. #Cambrian #Evolution #Vertebrates #PaleoArt #Science

Teaching 2nd graders about fossils and the Cambrian explosion means doodling some trilobites. #trilobite #paleoart #Paleozoic #traditional art #stippling #Cambrian

Prehistoric critters! Which ones your favorite?
#furryart #characterdesign #digitalart #trilobite #cambrian #precambrian #anomalocaris