Date:10/22/2009

particular, Cambrothyra seems to be related to another unusual Cambrian animal, the chancelloriids, which were attached to the sea floor and looked a bit like barrel cacti although they were animals rather than plants which suggests that Cambrothyra may have been a relative." Cambrothyra also shares similarities with a different Cambrian group, the halkieriids. This animal looked like a slug covered with armor. It traveled around the sea floor and thus may help support the idea that chancelloriids and halkieriids are closely related to each other, despite very different appearances.

Moore presented his findings at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Portland, Ore., today. He completed the work in collaboration with his advisor Susannah Porter, assistant professor in the Department of Earth Science at UCSB; Michael Steiner of the Freie Universitt, Berlin; and Guoxiang Li of the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

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Contact: Gail Gallessich gail.g@ia.ucsb.edu 805-893-7220 University of California - Santa Barbara Source:Eurekalert

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