The Canadaspis

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Canadaspis



    Canadaspis was a very odd genus of anthropoid from the Cambrian Era. Today, I'm mainly focusing on Canadaspis Perfecta, but I may cover the other species in the future. Its name means "Shield of Canada", as it had a large shield type body part that had covered its head. This shield is actually called a carapace. Canadaspis probably used its legs to crawl on the Cambrian seafloor, scavenging plants or smaller animals. Most Canadaspis' are found in the Burgess Shale in Canada but they can be found in areas like Utah, Nevada, and China.



    Canadaspis most likely used its multiple legs to stir up the sediment on the seafloor, in turn kicking up possible food and directing it into their mouth(s?). They were also likely prey for larger animals, but due to their extremely small size (roughly 47 millimeters long), they probably weren't targeted by large predators such as Anomalocaridia.


A Canadaspis compared to 
a 1.8-meter tall person

    The Canadaspis had two pairs of antennae, small eyes, two biramous appendages, and spiny mouthparts. The first pair of antennae are short, while the second pairs are much longer, comprised of 12 segments that are fringed with spines. Their bodies had 8 segments with associated limbs that are segmented along with a thorax of 7 segments and a spiny tail. They had small eyes that were attached to short stalks, and a series of spines behind their antennae are thought to be mandibles. As said before, they had a plate on their head that extended to their back that acted as a shield called a carapace.

A Canadaspis model depicting what
they and their environment could have 
looked like



Comments

  1. lizziewriterNovember 26, 2022 at 12:26 AM

    there's something familiar about their appearance... like giant shrimps or something...

    ReplyDelete

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