Machaeridians are Palaeozoic armoured annelids

Jakob Vinther, Peter Van Roy and Derek E. G. Briggs ()
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Jakob Vinther: Yale University, PO Box 208109, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA
Peter Van Roy: Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281/S8, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium
Derek E. G. Briggs: Yale University, PO Box 208109, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA

Nature, 2008, vol. 451, issue 7175, 185-188

Abstract: Like shelling worms Machaeridians are small shell-like fossils, abundant in marine seafloor settings from the early Ordovician to the Carboniferous. Since the fossils were first reported 150 years ago, they have been variously assigned to arthropods, echinoderms, annelids and molluscs. A new find in Morocco resolves these problematic affinities, because the animal's soft parts are well preserved. The 'shells' are in fact calcareous plates, carried as armour on the back of a hitherto unknown form of segmented annelid worm.

Date: 2008
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DOI: 10.1038/nature06474

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