Shrimp-like creature
The ancient creature Waptia fieldensis had a shrimp-like tail.
[Read more about the shrimp-like Cambrian critter]
Mustache-like antenna
An illustration showing W. fieldensis's rounded, paddle-like appendages and its spiny upper legs. It also had a mustache-shaped pair of antennae.
Carapace
An upper shell known as a carapace (yellow) covered the head of W. fieldensis.
Ancient brains
Some of the W. fieldensis fossils contained brain tissue.
Family tree
The family tree of W. fieldensis. Notice how it falls within the mandibulata group because it has mandibles.
Detailed fossil
The thumb-size W. fieldensis was a powerful swimmer.[Read more about the shrimp-like Cambrian critter]
Back end
The shrimp-like tail of W. fieldensis. The fringed appendages under its body helped it paddle underwater.
Stalked eyes
W. fieldensis had stalked eyes.
Spiny legs
W. fieldensis used its spiny front legs to grab and disembowel prey.
Charles Doolittle Walcott
The American paleontologist Charles Doolittle Walcott (1850-1927) discovered W. fieldensis in 1909 in the fossil-rich Burgess Shale deposit of the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada.
However, scientists haven't formally described the ancient critter in the scientific literature until now.
Drawings and notes
Walcott drew illustrations and described W. fieldensis in his notebook in 1909.
