Today, in the New York Times, there is a nice piece by Extinct fave Jack Tamisiea on a Burgess oddball (er, stem arthropod), Mosura fentoni. It’s a perfect piece to read alongside our brand new essay, “Ode to Opabinia, or Why you Don’t Hear as Much about Problematic Fossils as you Used to.” Our essay is about how the “weird wonders” of the Burgess Shale— once thought to strain or even break our classifications based on living forms— were eventually tamed, with many now recognized as stem arthropods. This involved recognizing that these creatures, while weird, were not quite as “alien” as they first appeared. Now here is Tamisiea:
Known as Mosura fentoni, this creature is a worthy addition to the bizarre bestiary preserved in the Burgess Shale, a substantial fossil deposit in the Canadian Rockies. However, the animal’s anatomy, described Wednesday in the journal Royal Society Open Science, reveals that Mosura may not be as alien as it looks.
It’s a good (short) read: go check it out!
