Tontoia
| Tontoia Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Fossil of T. kwaguntensis from Walcott Cambrian Geology and Paleontology II | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Genus: | † Walcott, 1912 |
| Type species | |
| Tontoia kwaguntensis Walcott, 1912 | |
Tontoia is a dubious genus of arthropod known from the Cambrian Burgess Shale, known from a fossil proposed to be the external mould of an arthropod exoskeleton. In its original description by Charles D. Walcott it was initially suggested that Tontoia might be a trilobite,[1] but it is currently considered to be a nomen dubium, and it is unclear whether it even represents an arthropod.[2][3]
References
- ^ Walcott, C. D. 1912. Middle Cambrian Branchiopoda, Malacostraca, Trilobita and Merostomata. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 57: 145-228.
- ^ Whittington, Harry B. (1985). "Tegopelte gigas, a Second Soft-Bodied Trilobite from the Burgess Shale, Middle Cambrian, British Columbia". Journal of Paleontology. 59 (5): 1251–1274. ISSN 0022-3360. JSTOR 1305016.
- ^ Ramsköld, Lars; Jun-Yuan, Chen; Edgecombe, Gregory D.; Gui-Qing, Zhou (1996). "Preservational folds simulating tergite junctions in tegopeltid and naraoiid arthropods". Lethaia. 29 (1): 15–20. Bibcode:1996Letha..29...15R. doi:10.1111/j.1502-3931.1996.tb01832.x. ISSN 0024-1164.