''Kootenayscolex'' is the extinct genus of

annelid The annelids (Annelida , from Latin ', "little ring"), also known as the segmented worms, are a large phylum, with over 22,000 extant species including ragworms, earthworms, and leeches. The species exist in and have adapted to various ecol ...

resembling a

bristle worm Polychaeta () is a paraphyletic class of generally marine annelid worms, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes (). Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called chaetae, which are ...

, found in

Burgess Shale The Burgess Shale is a fossil-bearing deposit exposed in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, Canada. It is famous for the exceptional preservation of the soft parts of its fossils. At old (middle Cambrian), it is one of the earliest foss ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. It appears to have been an aquatic worm with about 56

chaeta A chaeta or cheta (from Greek χαίτη “crest, mane, flowing hair"; plural: chaetae) is a chitinous bristle or seta found in annelid worms, (although the term is also frequently used to describe similar structures in other invertebrates suc ...

e (bristles) on each of up to 25 segments, serving to propel it through mud or water. The only one known species in the genus, ''Kootenayscolex barbarensis'', is thought to exhibit primitive traits that show the foundation for the evolution of modern

s, like "head" segment that still has traits of simply being another generic body segment, for example having bristles poking out of it, which no modern annelid shares.

Description

The genus name ''Kootenascolex'', means "worm from

Kootenay National Park Kootenay National Park is a national park of Canada located in southeastern British Columbia. The park consists of of the Canadian Rockies, including parts of the Kootenay and Park mountain ranges, the Kootenay River and the entirety of the Ve ...

" (in British Columbia, where its fossils were found) and species name ''barbarensis'' is from Barbara Polk Milstein, a researcher on the

burgess shale The Burgess Shale is a fossil-bearing deposit exposed in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, Canada. It is famous for the exceptional preservation of the soft parts of its fossils. At old (middle Cambrian), it is one of the earliest foss ...

fossils. Over 500 specimen are known, and length ranges . They appear to have been bottom feeders, sifting sediment from the seafloor in their mouths.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q47525414 Prehistoric marine animals Annelids Cambrian animals Monogeneric animal families Prehistoric protostome genera Cambrian British Columbia Fossil taxa described in 2018 Cambrian genus extinctions