Isotelus sp. from the #Ordovician Cat Head Member, Red River Formation.
#TrilobiteTuesday #Paleozoic #ManitobaFossils

Celebrating our recent fieldwork this #FossilFriday with this pair of #crinoids from the #Ordovician Red River Formation, Cat Head Member.
#ManitobaFossils #Paleozoic #echinoderm

Just returned from a fantastic week of field work along the coasts of Lake Winnipeg. Many amazing #Ordovician #fossils now safely back at the museum and lots of new ideas for advancing research in the area. Couldn't have asked for a better team!
#FossilFriday #ManitobaFossils

A specimen of Mosura will go on display for the first time at the @manitobamuseum.bsky.social in Winnipeg this Fall. This year also marks 50 years of Burgess Shale research at @romtoronto.bsky.social , so stay tuned for special events!

Also remarkable is the excellent preservation of internal organs in these half billion year old #fossils, including elements of the nervous, circulatory, and digestive systems (reflective traces in right image). Lacunae of the circulatory system extend into the swimming flaps.

The back end of the body is made up of many segments which are small and have tiny flaps, but numerous gill bands. This is broadly convergent with some living arthropods like woodlice and horseshoe crabs, which have a batch of rear segments that are specialized for respiration.

Introducing Mosura fentoni, a new radiodont from the #BurgessShale.
Paper here: doi.org/10.1098/rsos.2…
Thi#fossilil species has 3 eyes, spiny claws, wing-shaped swimming flaps, and a unique abdomen-like body region.

New model incoming for #FossilFriday
#radiodont #arthropod #Cambrian #Cambroraster