Collinsovermis a genus and species of spinous suspension‐feeding lobopodian from the Cambrian Burgess Shale of British Columbia, Canada.
Paleobiology[]
The body of Collinsovermis is plump and compact but shows the diagnostic suspension‐feeding characters of luolishaniid lobopodians. It possesses 14 contiguous pairs of lobopods, lacking space between them. The 6 anterior pairs are elongate, adorned with about 20 pairs of long and slightly curved ventral spinules arranged in a chevron‐like pattern. These appendages terminate in a pair of thin claws and their dorsal surfaces are covered in minute spines or setae. The 8 posterior lobopod pairs, which attach to a truncated body termination, are stout and smooth, each terminated by a single strong recurved claw. Each somite bears a pair of dorsal spines; somites 4 and posteriad bear an additional median spine. The spines on somites 1–3 are much shorter than the spines on the remaining somites.
The head is short, bears a terminal mouth and a pair of antenniform outgrowths, and is covered by an oblong sclerite. Collinsovermis , plus Collinsium and Acinocricus , are found to comprise a sub‐group of stout luolishaniid lobopodians with remarkably long spinules on the front lobopods, interpreted here as a clade (Teratopodidae) This clade is distinct from both the comparatively slenderer Luolishania and a sub‐group composed of Facivermis and Ovatiovermis lacking body sclerites. Luolishaniids were mostly sessile forerunners of arthropods that had coupled efficient suspension‐feeding devices and, as in Collinsovermis , strong defensive or deterrent features. [1][2]