Eldonia

Eldonia
Temporal range:
Eldonia ludwigii from the middle Cambrian Burgess Shale.
Life restoration
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Stem group: Ambulacraria
Clade: Cambroernida
Class: Eldonioidea
Family: Eldoniidae
Genus: Eldonia
Walcott 1911
Type species
E. ludwigi
Walcott 1911
Species
  • E. ludwigi Walcott 1911
  • E. eumorpha (Sun & Hou 1987)
  • E. berbera Alessandrello 2003
Synonyms
  • Yunnanomedusa Sun & Hou 1987
  •  ? †Stellostomites Sun & Hou 1987

Eldonia is an extinct soft-bodied cambroernid best known from the Fossil Ridge outcrops of the Burgess Shale, particularly in the 'Great Eldonia layer' in the Walcott Quarry. In addition to over 550 specimens collected by Walcott, 224 specimens of Eldonia are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed, where they comprise 0.43% of the community. Species also occur in the Chengjiang biota, Siberia, and in Upper Ordovician strata of Morocco.