| Laggania Temporal range: Burgess shale |
|
|---|---|
| L. cambria fossil in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Stem-group: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | †Dinocaridida |
| Order: | †Radiodonta |
| Family: | †Anomalocarididae |
| Genus: | †Laggania Walcott, 1911 |
| Binomial name | |
| Laggania cambria Walcott, 1911 |
|
Laggania cambria was a species of Anomalocarid that lived in the Cambrian period. Its two mouth appendages had long bristle-like spines, it had no fan tail, and its short stalked eyes were behind its mouth appendages. These features are why some scientists don't think Laggania was an apex predator like Anomalocaris that hunted its prey, but rather used its appendages to filter water and sediment on the sea floor for prey.[1] 108 specimens of Laggania are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed, where they comprise 0.21% of the community.[2]
Laggania was originally described by Charles Walcott in 1911 as a holothurian echinoderm.[3]