Lobopods

"a yellow rock with a dark body and spikes coming out it "Lobopods are a bizarre group of extinct animals that have a segmented, worm-like body with legs. They may be related to living forms such as the onychophorans (velvet worms), tardigrades (water bears), and the arthropods. A number of globally distributed Cambrian species have been assigned to this group.

One example of a Cambrian lobopod from Utah is Acinocricus stichus Conway Morris & Robison, 1988. The spinose fossils of Acinocricus stichus were first interpreted as algae, but are now thought to be lobopodian (Ramskold & Chen, 1998).

Another example of a Middle Cambrian lobopod from Utah is Aysheaia prolata Robison, 1985.

Gallery of Lobopods

Note: Marks on all scale bars are centimeters (cm).

Acinocricus stichus Conway Morris & Robison, 1988

a gray rock with a strip of dark grey with spikes coming out of it from the top

KUMIP 204353 (Holotype). Spence Shale Member of the Langston Formation, Wellsville Mountains, Box Elder County, Utah. Figures 5.3, 6, 9.1 in Conway Morris & Robison (1988).

yellow rock with a deformed circle in the middle with spikes coming out of it except at the bottom

KUMIP 204776 (Paratype). Spence Shale Member of the Langston Formation, Wellsville Mountains, Box Elder County, Utah. Figures 7, 8 in Conway Morris & Robison (1988).

gray rock with a three fourths of a hollow circle at the bottom and spikes coming out of the circle with an extension of spikes in the top left

KUMIP 204357 (Paratype; part, counterpart). Spence Shale Member of the Langston Formation, Wellsville Mountains, Box Elder County, Utah. Figures 9.2a, 9.2b in Conway Morris & Robison (1988).

a hollow circle with spikes coming out of it that is incomplete at the bottom

KUMIP 153095 (Paratype). Spence Shale Member of the Langston Formation, Wellsville Mountains, Box Elder County, Utah. Figure 1.6 in Conway Morris & Robison (1988).

a gray rock with a slanted hollow half-circle that has spikes coming out of it

KUMIP 204354 (Paratype). Spence Shale Member of the Langston Formation, Wellsville Mountains, Box Elder County, Utah. Figure 5.1 in Conway Morris & Robison (1988).

a rock with a full circle and spikes coming out of it

KUMIP 204355 (Paratype). Spence Shale Member of the Langston Formation, Wellsville Mountains, Box Elder County, Utah. Figure 5.2 in Conway Morris & Robison (1988).

a gray rock with a darker grey indents in it. These indents are lines and spikes

KUMIP 204356 (Paratype). Spence Shale Member of the Langston Formation, Wellsville Mountains, Box Elder County, Utah. Figure 5.4 in Conway Morris & Robison (1988).

yellow rock with dark gray spikes in the middle

KUMIP 204358 (Paratype). Spence Shale Member of the Langston Formation, Wellsville Mountains, Box Elder County, Utah. Figure 10.1 in Conway Morris & Robison (1988).

a gray rock with a dark gray hollow circle in the middle with spikes coming out of it

KUMIP 204359 (Paratype). Spence Shale Member of the Langston Formation, Wellsville Mountains, Box Elder County, Utah. Figure 10.2 in Conway Morris & Robison (1988).

a yellow rock with a spikey body in the middle that is a darker yellow

KUMIP 204360 (Paratype). Spence Shale Member of the Langston Formation, Wellsville Mountains, Box Elder County, Utah. Figure 10.3 in Conway Morris & Robison (1988).

a gray rock with a half hollow circle in the middle that has spikes coming out of the circle

KUMIP 241393 (Paratype). Spence Shale Member of the Langston Formation, Wellsville Mountains, Box Elder County, Utah.

a gray rock with a faded hollow circle in the bottom with spikes coming out from the left and larger spikes coming from the top

KUMIP 241401 & 241402 (Paratype; part, counterpart). Spence Shale Member of the Langston Formation, Wellsville Mountains, Box Elder County, Utah.

a gray rock with two holes and white surrounding those holes. To the right of the holes is a indent of row of spikes that are facing the left
KUMIP 241403 (Paratype). Spence Shale Member of the Langston Formation, Wellsville Mountains, Box Elder County, Utah.

Aysheaia prolata Robison, 1985

a close up of a gray rock that has a long dark yellow line and 6 spikes coming down from that line
KUMIP 153923 (Holotype). Wheeler Formation, House Range, Millard County, Utah. Figure 3 in Robison (1985).