Cricocosmia jinningensis

Yunnan Province, China, ~518 million years old. *Cricocosmia* had a distinctive snout called a **pharynx**, which could be retracted into the spiny **proboscis** or turned outwards to capture prey. It was a predator that buried itself in the sea-floor sediment and fed on slow-moving animals that it ambushed from its burrow. It may have used rows of plate-like **sclerites** to crawl for short distances over the seafloor in pursuit of prey, or to find more fruitful feeding grounds in which to make a burrow. Created for the First Animals exhibition at Oxford University Museum of Natural History: www.oum.ox.ac.uk/firstanimals Model by Mighty Fossils: www.mightyfossils.com