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Anomalocaris
| Scientific Classification |
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Anomalocaris is a bizarre extinct animal that lived during the
Cambrian period. Its fossils
were found in the Burgess Shale in the Canadian Rockies in British Columbia,
Canada.
Anomalocaris is thought to have been a predator, and may have preyed upon
Trilobites.
It has been noted that
Trilobites have
upward facing eyes, which would have been useful for detecting a predator such
as Anomalocaris swimming above them (indeed, such eyes would not have evolved without a pressing
need for them).
Anomalocaris was a giant animal for its time, about 2 to 3 feet (60 centimeters to 1 meter)
long. It had segmented body, and was able to propel
itself through the water by undulating a series of flexible by overlapping lobes on each
side of its body. It had a large head, a pair of eyes, and a mouth constructed of 32 overlapping
plates and containing a series of serrated prongs. In front of its mouth were large arms with
barbed-spikes which presumably were used to capture prey.
Because of its strange nature, there had been quite a lot of debate about how to classify
Anomalocaris. Arguments have been made for considering to be
an arthopod (the group containing
insects, crustaceans, millipedes, etc.), or at least closely related
to Arthropods, and today it usually consider to be a lobopod,
a group of segmented worms believed to be related to Arthropods.
Anomalocaris was a strange marine animal that lived during the Cambrian period
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Anomalocaris Books
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By Stephen Jay Gould
Gould, Stephen Jay
Paperback (352 pages)
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"[An] extraordinary book. . . . Mr. Gould is an exceptional combination of scientist and science writer. . . . He is thus exceptionally well placed to tell these stories, and he tells them with fervor and intelligence."—James Gleick, New York Times Book Review High in the Canadian Rockies is a small limestone quarry formed 530 million years ago called the Burgess Shale. It hold the remains of an ancient sea where dozens of strange creatures lived—a forgotten corner of evolution preserved in awesome detail. In this book Stephen Jay Gould explores what the Burgess Shale tells us about evolution and the nature of history. |
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By Simon Conway-Morris
Oxford University Press, USA
Paperback (276 pages)
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In The Crucible of Creation, paleontologist Simon Conway Morris describes the marvelous finds of the Burgess Shale--a fantastically rich deposit of bizarre and bewildering Cambrian fossils, located in Western Canada.
Conway Morris is one of the few paleontologists ever to explore the Burgess Shale, having been involved in the dig since 1972, and thus he is an ideal guide to this amazing discovery. Indeed, he provides a complete overview of this remarkable find, ranging from an informative, basic discussion of the origins of life and animals on earth, to a colorful description of Charles Walcott's discovery of the Burgess Shale and of the painstaking scientific work that went on there (as well as in Burgess collections held at Harvard and the Smithsonian), to an account of similar fossil finds in Greenland and in China. The heart of the book is an imaginative trip in a time machine, back to the Cambrian seas, where the reader sees first-hand the remarkable diversity of life as it existed then. And perhaps most important, Conway Morris examines the lessons to be learned from the Burgess Shale, especially as they apply to modern evolutionary thinking. In particular, he critiques the ideas of Stephen Jay Gould, whose best-selling book Wonderful Life drew on Conway Morris's Burgess Shale work. The author takes a fresh look at the evidence and draws quite different conclusions from Gould on the nature of evolution.
This finely illustrated volume takes the reader to the forefront of paleontology as it provides fresh insights into the nature of evolution and of life on earth. |
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Cambridge University Press
Hardcover (308 pages)
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One of the great enigmas of evolutionary biology has been how to treat animals of problematic systematic position. Many are known only as fossils, so this area has been of particular interest to palaeobiologists. This book represents a wide synthesis. It embraces not only general problems of animal classification of animals and new information on their molecular sequences that bear on their wider relationships, but also addresses more specific problems. These include details appraisals of both living and fossil groups. From the fossil record special emphasis is laid on examples from exceptionally preserved biotas that include the Burgess shale-type faunas of the Cambrian of south China and western North America, the Carboniferous Mazon Creek beds of Illinois, and the Jurassic Osteno beds of northern Italy. In addition, experimental studies of soft-patrt preservation in jellyfish are relevant to comparable preservation in the fossil record. |
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By Andrew Parker
Basic Books
Released: 2004-04-13
Paperback (336 pages)
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Click Here | - ISBN13: 9780465054381
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About 550 million years ago, there was literally an explosion of life forms, as all the major animal groups suddenly and dramatically appeared. Although several books have been written about this surprising event, known as the Cambrian explosion, none has explained why it occurred. Indeed, none was able to. Here, for the first time, Oxford zoologist Andrew Parker reveals his theory of this great flourishing of life. Parker's controversial but increasingly accepted "Light Switch Theory" holds that it was the development of vision in primitive animals that caused the explosion. Drawing on evidence not just from biology, but also from geology, physics, chemistry, history, and art, In the Blink of an Eye is the fascinating account of a young scientist's intellectual journey, and a celebration of the scientific method. |
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Columbia University Press
Paperback (424 pages)
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Most nonscientists are usually aware of fossils, and it is commonly believed that they are extremely rare. In fact, fossils are exceptionally common in many sedimentary rocks and are used extensively in geology for age dating, interpretation of ancient environments, and the discovery of natural resources. However, there is another type of fossil deposit that is truly rare. These rare fossil deposits, called Lagerstätten, preserve the remains of the soft tissues or the articulated skeletal remains of ancient creatures in truly astonishing fine detail. Some of these deposits are world-famous, such as the Burgess Shale, or Solnhofen but there are others dating from many different geological eras from the Paleozoic, up to the Eocene. Recently, a concerted effort has been made to understand the overall significance of these rare fossil deposits. Whereas in the past these deposits were considered novelties, modern researchers are trying to understand what they can tell us about ancient life and environments. New sophisticated techniques (including image and geochemical analyses) are providing enormous new contributions to our knowledge of Lagerstätten sites and to paleobiology in general. This volume describes many of the most famous Lagerstätten locations worldwide and is complete with over 70 superb halftones showing some of these exotic fossils in all their glory. Paleontologists are beginning to understand why such deposits occur, how they have varied since the advent of marine metazoan life, and how their presence effects our understanding of the evolution of life in the Earth's oceans. In this way, the study of Lagerstätten continues to move towards the mainstream of paleobiological, biological, and geological research, and away from its former status as the examination of mere curiosities. All those interested in these beautiful and sometimes enigmatic deposits will want to own this book. |
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By Mark A. S. McMenamin
Columbia University Press
Paperback (217 pages)
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The authors explore the late Precambrian and earliest Cambrian fossil record to explain the Cambrian phenomenon and discuss the possibility of a major turnover in marine ecology at the beginning of the Cambrian period or whether a new, improved type of animal appeared at this time. They support their often controversial conclusions with photos and illustrations of fossils, some never before published. |
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By Richard Ellis
Penguin (Non-Classics)
Released: 2003-01-28
Paperback (320 pages)
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Life on earth began in the sea, and in this tour de force of natural history, authority on marine biology and illustrator Richard Ellis chronicles more than three billion years of aquatic history. From the first microbes and jawless fishes that evolved into the myriad species we know today-sharks, whales, dolphins, and, of course, humans-Ellis reveals the deep evolutionary mysteries of the sea. Encyclopedic in scope and complemented by more than sixty drawings, Aquagenesis is a fascinating work that will astonish readers with the wonder, richness, and complexity of the evolution of life.
"Quite simply, the best account we now have of the origins of human life." (Te Christian Science Monitor) |
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VerPublishing
Released: 2012-04-20
Paperback (108 pages)
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Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. 8564 Anomalocaris is a main-belt minor planet. A minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is neither a dominant planet nor a comet, and thus includes the dwarf planets. The orbital categories of minor planets are the asteroids, trojans, centaurs, Kuiper belt objects, and other trans-Neptunian objects. The first minor planet discovered was Ceres in 1801. The orbits of more than 540,000 objects have been archived at the Minor Planet Center. The term "minor planet" has been used since the 19th century to describe these objects. |
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By D. E. G Briggs
The University of Kansas Paleontological Institute
Unknown Binding (23 pages)
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By H. B. and D. E. G. Briggs. J. M. Enoch and D. G. Birch. WHITTINGTON
Royal Society
Paperback
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