Oikozetetes

Oikozetetes Temporal range: Lower Cambrian–Middle Cambrian[1] PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Superphylum:	Lophotrochozoa
Phylum:	Incertae sedis
Genus:	Oikozetetes Conway Morris 1995[2]
Species:	O. seilacheri

Oikozetetes is a scleritome-bearing Cambrian organism which may be related to the halkieriids.^[1] They bore two morphologically different shells,^[2] which were probably calcareous while the organism was alive (although diagenesis sometimes replaces the original minearal with another, such as silica).^[1] It is thought to also have borne an armour coat consisting of biomineralised sclerites, like Halkieria. These are never found in direct association with the shells, but there are many biostratinomic processes which could account for this fact.^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Paterson, J. R.; Brock, G. A.; Skovsted, C. B. (2009). "Oikozetetes from the early Cambrian of South Australia: implications for halkieriid affinities and functional morphology". Lethaia 42 (2): 199–203. doi:10.1111/j.1502-3931.2008.00132.x.  edit
2. ^ ^{a b} Conway Morris, S. (1995). "Enigmatic shells, possibly halkieriid, from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale, British Columbia". Neues Jahrbuch fur Geologie und Palaontologie-Abhandlungen 195 (1): 319–331.