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166 / Paleozoic
Ottoia
Ottoia prolifica
Its stout body hid in a U-shaped burrow while a spiny, hook-studded throat could turn inside out to seize food.
Structured expansion · editorial review pending
- Time range
- About 508 million years ago
- Final stage
- Middle Cambrian
- Geographic range
- Muddy offshore seafloor of Laurentia · Burgess Shale, Canada
01 / ANSWER FIRST
What was Ottoia?
This archive records Ottoia under the scientific name Ottoia prolifica, with an age of About 508 million years ago and a range of Muddy offshore seafloor of Laurentia · Burgess Shale, Canada. Its stout body hid in a U-shaped burrow while a spiny, hook-studded throat could turn inside out to seize food.
Ottoia was a priapulid worm that usually remained buried in soft mud. Its eversible proboscis captured small animals and organic debris, sometimes including hard-shelled prey or other Ottoia.
02 / QUICK FACTS
Ottoia at a glance
- Scientific name
- Ottoia prolifica
- Age
- About 508 million years ago
- Last recorded stage
- Middle Cambrian
- Known range
- Muddy offshore seafloor of Laurentia · Burgess Shale, Canada
- Broad group
- invertebrate
- Archive era
- Paleozoic
- Habitat signals
- Ocean
- Documented regions
- North America
03 / ANATOMY
How was Ottoia built?
Overall body plan
Its stout body hid in a U-shaped burrow while a spiny, hook-studded throat could turn inside out to seize food.
Body symmetry and segmentation
The available record is interpreted through preserved proportions, attachment surfaces, wear and comparison with related organisms. For Ottoia, those observations must be separated from features added only for visual reconstruction.
Feeding and locomotor structures
Ottoia was a priapulid worm that usually remained buried in soft mud. Its eversible proboscis captured small animals and organic debris, sometimes including hard-shelled prey or other Ottoia.
Growth and individual variation
A single specimen does not define the whole species. Size, maturity, preservation and possible sex differences are considered before anatomical traits are treated as typical of Ottoia.
04 / DIET & BEHAVIOUR
How did Ottoia live?
Ottoia was a priapulid worm that usually remained buried in soft mud. Its eversible proboscis captured small animals and organic debris, sometimes including hard-shelled prey or other Ottoia. This ecological reconstruction is strongest where anatomy, associated organisms and the depositional setting point in the same direction.
05 / DIET & BEHAVIOUR
What shaped its ecological limits?
Its populations depended on substrate, water chemistry, food supply and ecological competition. Changes in any one factor did not necessarily cause immediate extinction, but interacting pressures could reduce range, recruitment and resilience.
06 / RANGE & HABITAT
Where and when did Ottoia live?
This archive currently lists About 508 million years ago; Muddy offshore seafloor of Laurentia · Burgess Shale, Canada. Fossil or historical occurrence data describe where evidence has been found, not every place the taxon once occupied. Species-level age and range limits still require source-specific review.
Documented geographic range
Muddy offshore seafloor of Laurentia · Burgess Shale, Canada. This boundary can change when specimens are reidentified or new localities are published.
Time window
About 508 million years ago, with the final recorded stage listed as Middle Cambrian. Rock units and dating uncertainty mean the true biological range may extend beyond the known record.
Environmental setting
The archive uses the broad habitat labels Ocean. These labels help explore related records; a habitat reconstruction requires evidence from individual localities.
07 / FOSSIL EVIDENCE
What evidence supports reconstructions of Ottoia?
Primary record
Thousands of soft-bodied fossils preserve trunk rings, tail hooks, throat teeth, gut contents and burrowing posture.
Comparative anatomy
Preserved structures are compared with close and functionally similar organisms. The method can constrain posture and function, but analogy alone cannot prove colour, behaviour or soft tissue.
Age and locality
Stratigraphy and occurrence records place Ottoia within About 508 million years ago and Muddy offshore seafloor of Laurentia · Burgess Shale, Canada. Reworked fossils and uncertain provenance are treated cautiously.
Open entity records
Links below connect the archive to available taxonomic and occurrence records. A matching name does not verify every ecological claim, and related-taxon links provide comparison rather than an exact species match.
08 / DISAPPEARANCE & DEBATE
Why did Ottoia disappear?
Long-term shifts in oxygen, sediment and benthic food webs removed this Burgess Shale species from the fossil record.
The last fossil or observation marks the youngest evidence currently known, not necessarily the death of the final individual. Explanations are strongest when timing, environmental change and population biology agree; otherwise the profile preserves uncertainty instead of assigning a single dramatic cause.
09 / FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Ottoia FAQ
What was Ottoia?
This archive records Ottoia under the scientific name Ottoia prolifica, with an age of About 508 million years ago. Its stout body hid in a U-shaped burrow while a spiny, hook-studded throat could turn inside out to seize food.
When did Ottoia live?
The current archive range is About 508 million years ago; its youngest recorded stage is Middle Cambrian.
Where was Ottoia found?
The archive currently lists Muddy offshore seafloor of Laurentia · Burgess Shale, Canada. Species-level locality assignments and the full geographic range still require source-specific review.
How do scientists know about Ottoia?
Thousands of soft-bodied fossils preserve trunk rings, tail hooks, throat teeth, gut contents and burrowing posture.
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?
- Completed an AI-assisted bilingual audit of the archive record, corrected identified issues and clarified evidence limits; independent editorial review is pending.
- Expanded into a structured bilingual profile with anatomy, ecology, range, evidence, debate and FAQs; independent editorial review is pending.
- Verified authoritative entity sources and added three responsive reconstruction sizes.
- Initial bilingual species record published.
06 / CORRECTIONS & ADDITIONS