''Lecythioscopa'' is a genus of probable

archaeopriapulid Archaeopriapulida is a group of priapulid-like worms known from Cambrian lagerstätte. The group is closely related to, and very similar to, the modern Priapulids. It is unclear whether it is mono- or polyphyletic. Despite a remarkable morphol ...

known from two specimens from the

Walcott Quarry The Walcott Quarry is the most famous quarry of the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale, located in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, bearing the Phyllopod beds. This lies at the base of the Walcott Quarry member, on a ridge between Wapta Mou ...

from the

Middle Cambrian Middle or The Middle may refer to: * Centre (geometry), the point equally distant from the outer limits. Places * Middle (sheading), a subdivision of the Isle of Man * Middle Bay (disambiguation) * Middle Brook (disambiguation) * Middle Creek ...

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 fos ...

Morphology

The specimens of ''Lectythioscopa'' are both missing their posterior portions, leaving a head, comparable to the proboscis of other priapulids, and long trunk, which is curved in both specimens. The animal was probably a burrower due to its external radial symmetry.

History

The species was originally placed as ''Canadia simplex'' by Charles Walcott in a 1931 publication based on a single specimen.

Simon Conway Morris Simon Conway Morris (born 1951) is an English palaeontologist, evolutionary biologist, and astrobiologist known for his study of the fossils of the Burgess Shale and the Cambrian explosion. The results of these discoveries were celebrated ...

later identified what was previously considered a specimen of ''Canadia dubia'' as sharing similar features, placing them both under the name of ''Lecythioscopa simplex''.

References

Priapulida †Lecythioscopa Prehistoric protostome genera Burgess Shale fossils Cambrian genus extinctions {{cambrian-animal-stub it:Lecythioscopa simplex