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Sidneyia

Sidneyia is an extinct arthropod known from fossils found in the Cambrian-age Burgess Shale formation of British Columbia. 144 specimens of Sidneyia are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed, where they comprise 0.27% of the community.[1]

General description[]

Sidneyia ranged from 2 to 5 inches (51 to 130 mm) in length and is one of the largest arthropods found at the site. It is thought to have been a benthic carnivore that walked along the sea floor in search of hard-shelled prey. Gut contents have revealed that Sidneyia fed on hyolithids (molluscs) and other small crustaceans and trilobites. Sidneyia was discovered in 1910 during the first day of Charles Walcott's exploration of the Burgess Shale. He named it after his elder son, Sidney, who had helped to locate the site and collect the specimen. The species name, Sidneyia inexpectans, means "Sidney's discovery". About 200 specimens have been documented.

In popular culture[]

A Sidneyia were with Marrellas and run away from the Extinction of the Burgess Shale and then an Anomalocaris came in and ran and the Burgess Shale sponges, Wiwaxia and other Middle Cambrian animals got extinct in the Website The Burgess Shale in the Virtual Sea Odyssey and one was dead in the Scavengers and got eaten by a giant carnivorous trilobite and a Opabinia when the Two Eldonias come (It made a cameo in Grazers in the end).

Gallery[]

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