A new arthropod from the lower Cambrian Sirius Passet Fossil-Lagerstätte of North Greenland

 

Authors: Peel JS, Stein M

Published in: Bulletin of Geosciences, volume 84, issue 4; pages: 625 - 630; Received 30 July 2009; Accepted in revised form 22 September 2009; Online 9 October 2009

Keywords: Cambrian, arthropod, Sirius Passet, Lagerstätte, Greenland,

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Abstract

Aaveqaspis inesoni gen. et sp. nov., is described from the lower Cambrian Sirius Passet Fossil-Lagerstätte of Peary Land, North Greenland. It has a semicircular head shield and a thorax with 5 tergites. The tail shield carries 2 pairs of spines, the most anterior of which is enormous and dominates the trunk. A. inesoni lacks any preserved trace of eyes, as is also the case with several other Sirius Passet arthropods, suggesting that the fossils accumulated in deeper water than the contemporaneous Chengjiang Fossil-Lagerstätte of China or the middle Cambrian Burgess Shale assemblages of British Columbia.

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