Opabinia regalis was first described by Sir Walcott in 1912 and was identified as one of the most primitive organisms (arthropods) of the Burgess Shale shale. Opabinia, due to its strange and unusual shape, is and has represented one of the most iconic and strange animals that lived in the Cambrian. There have been many speculations about his anatomical features and his lifestyle.
morphologically, Opabinia has five eyes, a frontal "beak" protruding from a long annulata proboscis, a body with lateral lobes and gills in series with the presence of a very prominent tail. The length of the body varies between 4.3 and 8 cm approx. (without considering the trunk). The head is rounded, with five bulbous compound eyes on short stems clustered on the dorsal surface of the head. The trunk was divided into 15 segments, each bearing a pair of lateral lobes in association with gill structures with lanceolate blades. This 3D model was made taking into account all the publ. scientific studies to 2021 and will be updated if new and exciting discoveries about this wonderful animal should come out.
The mouth was "risky" taking into account the scarce ventral anatomical information of the animal.
Due to some fragile parts painted models may travel with some disassembled pieces such as trunk and tail.
Opabinia regalis enigmatic fossil 3D model Burgess Shale
material: Full resin or 3D printing
scale: 1.5 x or sup
Design: Di Silvestro Gianpaolo e Alessio Schirinzi
pub. of reference:
CARON, J.-B. AND FROM JACKSON. 2008. Paleoecology of the Greater Phyllopod Bed community, Burgess Shale. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 258: 222-256.
HUTCHINSON, GE 1930. Restudy of some Burgess Shale fossils. Proceedings of the US National Museum, 78: 1-11.
WALCOTT, CD 1912. Middle Cambrian Branchiopoda, Malacostraca, Trilobita and Merostomata. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 57: 145-228.
WHITTINGTON, HB 1975. The enigmatic animal Opabinia regalis , Middle Cambrian, Burgess Shale, British Columbia. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B: Biological Sciences, 271: 1-43.
WHITTINGTON, HB AND DEG BRIGGS. 1985. The largest Cambrian animal, Anomalocaris , Burgess Shale, British Columbia. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B-Biological Sciences, 309: 569-609.
ZHANG, X.-G. AND DEG BRIGGS. 2007: The nature and significance of the appendages of Opabinia from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale. Lethaia, 40: 161-173.
BUDD, GE AND A. DALEY. 2011. The lobes and lobopods of Opabinia regalis from the middle Cambrian Burgess Shale. Lethaia, DOI: 10.1111 / j.1502-3931.2011.00264.x.