Name: Alalcomenaeus
sp.
Phylum
Arthropoda
Geological
Time: Early Cambrian (~525 million years ago)
Size: 26
mm long on a 50 mm by 57 mm matrix
Fossil
Site: Chengjiang Biota, Qiongzhusi Section, Yu'anshan Member, Heilinpu
Formation, Maotianshan Hill, Yuxi, Chengjiang County, Yunnan Province,
China
|  The
specimen is a member of the "great appendage arthropods"
known as the opabinids after Opabinia from the Burgess Shale Fauna.
Other members from Chengjiang are Jianfengia and Leanchoilia. The
long antenna and exceptional detail of the appendages are readily
apparent in this fine specimen. The taxon is unknown outside the
Chengjiang Biota. This is a truly exceptional specimen and representative
of the Cambrian explosion.
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