Selkirkia
| Selkirkia Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
| Selkirkia columbia fossil from the Burgess Shale. From Smith et al. (2015) | |
| Restoration of Selkirkia columbia | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Stem group: | Priapulida (?) |
| Class: | †Archaeopriapulida |
| Family: | †Selkirkiidae Conway Morris, 1977 |
| Genus: | †Selkirkia Walcott, 1911 |
| Species | |
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Selkirkia is a genus of predatory, tubicolous priapulid worms known from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale, Ogygopsis Shale, Puncoviscana Formation and the Early Ordovician Fezouata Formation. 142 specimens of Selkirkia are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed, where they comprise 0.27% of the community. In the Burgess Shale, 20% of the tapering, organic-walled tubes are preserved with the worm inside them, whereas the other 80% are empty (or sometimes occupied by one or more small agnostid trilobites). Whilst alive, the tubes were probably vertical, whereas trilobite-occupied tubes are horizontal.