Pagetia bootes Walcott with Vauxia sponges

Cambrian

Burgess Shale, Stephens Formation

Field, British Columbia, BC Canada.

Fine 6mm agnostid and sponge parts on 35mm slab.

Arthropod.  Sponge.

Pagetia is a trilobite genus in the Order Agnostida, known from the Middle Cambrian of western North America and southwestern China.  It should be noted that some paleontologists have questioned the placement of Agnostida within the trilobite class, and given their relatively simple form, it’s possible agnostids could be more closely related to a group ancestral to trilobites.

Vauxia is a genus of demosponge from the Cambrian of British Columbia, Canada and Utah.