#  Fezouata fossils show post-Cambrian survival of Selkirkia 

 





March 27, 2024

 

 

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 Excited to share the latest species from the Ordovician Fezouata Shale biota of Morocco published in [Biology Letters](https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2024.0042). New exceptional fossils from the Museum of Comparative Zoology in Harvard and the Yale University Pebody Museum demonstrate that the tube-dwelling scalidophoran worm *Selkirkia*, widely known in Burgess Shale-type Cambrian biotas, survived several million years into the Early Ordovician. The new species, *Selkirkia tsering*, demonstrates the long term survival of yet another major animal group that originated during the Cambrian Explosion, and demonstrates a rare case of infaunal organisms in the Fezouata Shale. Check out the media coverage below, where **Dr. Karma Nanglu** (postdoctoral researcher) talks to the New York Times and National Public Radio about the discovery and its evolutionary implications.

 [Ancient ‘Dune’-like Sandworm Existed Far Longer Than Thought ](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/26/science/sandworm-cambrian-dune.html)*-* New York Times

 [Ancient predatory worms have scientists rethinking the history of life on Earth](https://www.npr.org/2024/04/17/1198909728/ancient-history-predatory-worm-evolution-cambrian-ordovician) - *NPR*

 Sort      ![selkirkiafig2](/sites/g/files/omnuum6461/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/ortega-hernandezlab/files/selkirkiafig2.gif?itok=UiraLlx4) 

 

 

    ![SelkirkiaFig3](/sites/g/files/omnuum6461/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/ortega-hernandezlab/files/selkirkiafig3.jpg?itok=vdMkR5Z5) 

 

 

    **Comparison between the Ordovician *Selkirkia tsering* (a, d) and Cambrian species of *Selkirkia* from the Burgess Shale (c) and Chengjiang (h) biotas.**  

  **Biostratigraphic and geographic distrubiotion of *Selkirkia* throughout the Cambrian and Ordovician. *Selkirkia tsering* extends the stratigraphic range of the genus by approximately 25 million years.**  

  



 [](https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2047192&HistoricalAwards=false)

   ![nsf_4-color_bitmap_logo](/sites/g/files/omnuum6461/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/ortega-hernandezlab/files/nsf_4-color_bitmap_logo.png?itok=_3jh-hAA) 

 

 This work is funded by NSF CAREER award ([grant no. 2047192](https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2047192&HistoricalAwards=false)) ‘*Ecological turnover at the dawn of the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event—quantifying the Cambro-Ordovician transition through the lens of exceptional preservation*’.



 

 

 



 

 

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