
See 'anomalocaris' and 'brachiopod' for more !








Jonathon R. Oglesbee wrote:

 The onychophora, peripatus, is a unique creature, found in New
 Zealand.  There is no other like peripatus.  It is probably a
 creature from the dawn of time, as it seems to have a fossil
 representative of the most early invertebrates: Aysheaia, as
 may be found in some deposits of Burgess Shale.

 Aside from a lovely name, Peripatus doesn't look much like an
 earth creature.  It is also frequently colored blue.  It has
 a mixture of attributes similar to both annelidia and arthopodia.
 I have also found interesting the arguments taxanomists have had
 for years over the creature; it's taxanomy has been fussed and
 fought over, and changed several times.  Mostly, there just isn't
 anything like it.

 Its pre-historic relative (which looks just like it), lived at
 a time when mother nature was just begining to make complex,
 multi-cellular creatures, and most of them (with the exception
 of the jellyfish) looked like pure experiments in physical design.
 No decendants remain of them, except Peripatus.  They were all
 bizzare in the extreme, like something from a sci-fi nightmare.
 And they are all gone.

 Except Peripatus.  Peripatus still remains. It is totally bizzare,
 and totally unique.





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