Years ago, I read the late Steven Gould’s book about the so-called “Burgess Shale” fossils. It seems that many of these dfossils were quite bizarre… (I recall onne animal had a row of pointed legs), and many other odd features. Anyway, it was assumed that all of these animals had disappeared long ago-but years alter, I saw a magazine article-and these ancient fossils have almost identicle modern relatives? Do MOST of the Cretacious-REra plants and animals still survive (in smaller, modern forms)? I see that the club mosses and ginko trees are still around-what about the insects and animals?
A little confusion here. The Burgess Shale fossils were laid down in the Cambrian period. The Cretaceous came MUCH later. The Cambrian period was about a half a billion years ago. None of the Burgess Shale specimens are living today.
Even things like Ginkgo trees that are alive today are similar to, but not the same as, their Cretaceous ancestors.
That one would be Hallucigenia. It has since been suggested that the original depiction was upside-down, and that the seven-pairs of “stilts” were actually dorsal spines. It has also been suggested–by Gould himself–that its closest surviving relatives are the onychophorans.
The Burgess shale was laid down in the Middle Cambrian (~540 million years ago). Several spieces belonged to *phyla which are still around today, including sponges, worms and sea pens. The spieces themselves are long gone though. The Smithsonian has a good section on this.