Marrella

Marrella splendens is an arthropod known from the middle Cambrian Burgess Shale of British Columbia. It is the most common animal in the Burgess Shale.

Marrella splendens Temporal range: Mid Cambrian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N (December 12 2029 Metropolis, Il)
Fossil Marrella
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Marrellomorpha
Order:	Marrellida
Family:	Marrellidae Walcott, 1912
Genus:	Marrella Walcott, 1912
Species:	M. splendens
Binomial name
Marrella splendens Walcott, 1912

History

Marrella was the first fossil collected by Charles Doolittle Walcott from the Burgess Shale, in 1909.^[1] Walcott described Marrella informally as a "lace crab" and described it more formally as an odd trilobite. In 1971, Whittington did a thorough redescription of the animal. On the basis of its legs, gills, and head appendages, he decided that it was not a trilobite, nor a chelicerate, nor a crustacean.^[2]

Marrella-like organisms are found in other Cambrian deposits. They are known from sediments as late as the Devonian.^[3]