Worthenella

{{Short description|Extinct genus of arthropods}} {{Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = Burgess Shale | image = USNM PAL 57643 Worthenella cambria Image 04.jpg | image_caption = Type specimen of ''W. cambria'' in shale | taxon = Worthenella | authority = Walcott, 1911<ref name="Walcott1911"/> | type_species = ''Worthenella cambria'' | type_species_authority = Walcott, 1911<ref name="Walcott1911"/> }}

'''''Worthenella''''' is a genus of enigmatic arthropod from the Burgess Shale. It known from a single specimen described initially as an annelid by Charles Doolittle Walcott in 1911. The body is elongate and myriapod-like with a head and at least 46 body segments. The head bears poorly preserved appendages, while filamentous branched structures appear to run along the underside of the first 34 trunk segments, with the posterior 8 suggested to have had longer appendages.<ref>{{Cite web |title=''Worthenella cambria'' |url=https://burgess-shale.rom.on.ca/fossils/worthenella-cambria/ |access-date=2023-01-13 |website=The Burgess Shale |publisher=Royal Ontario Museum |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2013, David Legg placed it in the family Kootenichelidae as a sister to ''Kootenichela'' , based on the supposed presence of antenniform head appendages.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1666/12-112.1| title = Multi-Segmented Arthropods from the Middle Cambrian of British Columbia (Canada)| journal = Journal of Paleontology| volume = 87| issue = 3| pages = 493–501| year = 2013| last1 = Legg | first1 = David | bibcode = 2013JPal...87..493L| s2cid = 86725173}}</ref> However, this position was questioned in a later study, which argued that the supposed antenniform appendages were actually taphonomic artefacts.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lamsdell |first1=James C. |last2=Stein |first2=Martin |last3=Selden |first3=Paul A. |date=September 2013 |title=Kodymirus and the case for convergence of raptorial appendages in Cambrian arthropods |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00114-013-1081-y |journal=Naturwissenschaften |language=en |volume=100 |issue=9 |pages=811–825 |doi=10.1007/s00114-013-1081-y |pmid=23893175 |bibcode=2013NW....100..811L |s2cid=253635469 |issn=0028-1042|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name="Walcott1911">{{cite journal|last=Walcott |first=Charles D. |date=1911 |title=Cambrian Geology and Paleontology II. Middle Cambrian annelids. |journal=Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections |volume=57 |issue=5 |pages=125–127 |hdl=10088/34820 |hdl-access=free |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/9263183|postscript=[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/9263209 Pl. 22], Fig. 2.}}</ref> }}

Category:Megacheira Category:Monotypic prehistoric arthropod genera Category:Burgess Shale fossils Category:Cambrian genus extinctions