A 'Collins' monster'-type lobopodian from the Emu Bay Shale Konservat-Lagerstätte (Cambrian), South Australia

Abstract

A distinctive group of lobopodians known from Cambrian Stage 5 in western Laurentia includes Acinocricus Conway Morris & Robison, 1988, from the Spence Shale in Utah, and an unnamed species from the Burgess Shale, British Columbia, popularly known as ‘Collins’ monster’. The temporal gap from their closest relative, the Chengjiang lobopodian Luolishania, is bridged by a single, incomplete specimen of a Collins’ monster-type lobopodian from the Emu Bay Shale (Cambrian Series 2, Stage 4), Kangaroo Island, South Australia, the first lobopodian discovered in this Konservat-Lagerstätte. Pending formal description of the Burgess Shale species, the Australian specimen is left unassigned to a genus.