Exceptional lower Cambrian fossils from a long-lost locality in Vermont, USA

Abstract

Recent excavations at the site of Vermont's historically important Parker Quarry, long considered worked out where fossils were concerned, have yielded not only spectacular lower Cambrian trilobites but also soft-bodied animals including the early chordate Emmonsaspis cambrensis and a new multi-segmented bivalved arthropod Vermontcaris montcalmi. The first radiodont specimen from the locality indicates the presence of one of these apex predators more than 30-cm long. New discoveries from this Burgess Shale-type deposit add to our knowledge of the geographical diversity of animals that evolved during the Cambrian explosion.