Spectacular Burgess Shale Burgessia Arthropod

Description: Bugessia bella derives its genus name from the location that also lent it name to this spectacular window on early life and the Cambrian Explosion. It was presumably a benthic organism that made a living crawling on the seafloor. It falls within the arachnomrphs, and so is related to both the chelicerates and trilobites. Note the antenna, central gut, telson, and partial legs seen within the carapace. This wonderful example shows all the major features of the taxon in incredible detail for a specimen more than a half billion years of age.