Ottoia Guizhouenis

''Ottoia'' is a stem-group archaeopriapulid worm known from Cambrian fossils. Although priapulid-like worms from various Cambrian deposits are often referred to ''Ottoia'' on spurious grounds, the only clear ''Ottoia'' macrofossils come from the Burgess Shale of British Columbia, which was deposited . Microfossils extend the record of ''Ottoia'' throughout the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin, from the mid- to late- Cambrian. A few fossil finds are also known from China.

Morphology

''Ottoia'' specimens are on average 8 centimeters in length. Both length and width show variation with contraction; shorter specimens often being wider than longer ones. The characteristic proboscis of priapulids is present at the anterior, attached to the trunk of the animal, proceeded by the "bursa" at the posterior. The organism's body is bilaterally symmetrical, however, its anterior displays external radial symmetry. Like some other modern invertebrates, a cuticle restricts the size of and protects the animal.

The trunk hosts the internal organs of the organism, divided into seventy to a hundred annulations of varying spacing, depending on curvature and contraction. The posterior displays a series of hooks, which likely acted as anchors during burrowing. Muscles support the animal and retract the bursa and proboscis. A gut leading from the anus in the bursa to the mouth in the proboscis runs through the trunk's spacious body cavity, and a concentration of gut muscles serve the function of a gizzard. A nerve chord runs down the organism's length. In addition to the other organs, it is possible ''Ottoia'' contained urogenital organs in its trunk. There is no evidence of a respiratory organ, though the bursa may have served this purpose.

The everted proboscis of ''Ottoia'' bears an armature of teeth and hooks. The detailed morphology of these elements distinguishes the two described species, ''O. tricuspida'' and ''O. prolifica''. At the base of the pharynx, separated from the teeth by an unarmed region, sits a ring of spines. Behind this, at the front of the trunk, lies a series of hooks and spines, arranged in a quincunx pattern like the five dots on a domino or die.

Ecology

''Ottoia'' was a burrower that hunted prey with its eversible proboscis. It also appears to have scavenged on dead organisms such as the arthropod '' Sidneyia''.

The spines on the proboscis of ''Ottoia'' have been interpreted as teeth used to capture prey. Its mode of life is uncertain, but it is thought to have been an active burrower, moving through the sediment after prey, and is believed to have lived within a U-shaped burrow that it constructed in the substrate. From that place of relative safety, it could extend its proboscis in search of prey. Gut contents show that this worm was a predator, often feasting on the hyolithid ''Haplophrentis'' (a shelled animal similar to mollusks), generally swallowed them head-first. They also show evidence of cannibalism, which is common in priapulids today.

Preservation

Because of its bottom-living habit and the location of the Burgess Shale site at the foot of a high limestone reef, one may presume the relative immobility of ''Ottoia'' placed it in danger of being carried away and/or buried by any underwater mud avalanche from the cliff top. This may explain why it remains one of the more abundant specimens of the Burgess Shale fauna.

Distribution

At least 1000 Burgess Shale specimens are known in the UNSM collections alone, in addition to the ROM collections and hundreds of specimens elsewhere. 677 specimens of ''Ottoia'' are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed, where they comprise 1.29% of the community.

''Ottoia'' has also been reported from Middle Cambrian deposits in Utah and Spain, Nevada, and various other localities. Nevertheless, these reports are insecure, and the only verifiable ''Ottoia'' macrofossils herald from the Burgess Shale itself.

Microfossils corresponding to ''Ottoia'' teeth, however, have a much broader distribution, and are found throughout the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. Indeed, putative candidates (initially described under the ICBN as ''Goniomorpha'') may extend the range of ''Ottoia'', or at least similar priapulans, into the Ordovician.

References

External links

*
''Ottoia prolifica'' (A priapulid worm) from the Smithsonian Institution.

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q20672214, from2=Q1953019

Prehistoric protostome genera
Burgess Shale fossils
Cambrian invertebrates
Priapulida
Miaolingian first appearances
Furongian extinctions
Fossil taxa described in 1911
Wheeler Shale
Cambrian genus extinctions