Explore this animal in Size of Extinct Animals ↗
513 / Paleozoic
Habelia
Habelia optata
A spiny head shield and specialized appendages belonged near the chelicerate stem.
View original image · 1600 × 1067- Time range
- About 508 million years ago
- Final stage
- Middle Cambrian
- Geographic range
- Seafloor and near-bottom water · Canada
01 / DEFINITION & ECOLOGY
What was Habelia?
Habelia (Habelia optata) was an extinct organism known from About 508 million years ago, with a range in Seafloor and near-bottom water · Canada.
Life and ecology
It searched the bottom and used front limbs to seize and break small armored prey.
02 / DISAPPEARANCE
Why did Habelia disappear?
Cambrian lineages were sorted before crown chelicerates diversified, but this does not establish why this form disappeared.
03 / EVIDENCE
How do scientists know about Habelia?
Fossils preserve eyes, mouthparts, legs and gills supporting a stem-chelicerate position.
04 / SOURCES & FURTHER READING
Check the source record
Use the scientific name to compare taxonomy, occurrence records and the fossil record. Database coverage and classifications may differ.
05 / REVISION HISTORY
How has this record changed?
- Rewrote an extinction cause that presented environmental or faunal turnover as established; it is now given as context the record does not prove.
- Verified authoritative entity sources and added three responsive reconstruction sizes.
- Initial bilingual species record published.
06 / CORRECTIONS & ADDITIONS