In Remembrance of Marella

This post is a tribute to Marella Splendens, a Burgess shale species that I think is a little under appreciated. It was abused from the very beginning. Charles Walcott, who first excavated the Burgess shale, dismissed it as an odd trilobite. In fact, although often assumed to be a trilobite by the amateur observer, Marella is currently placed in a class of its own.

Now, you all know that I love trilobites, but I feel sorry for Marella. It's the most common fossil found in the Burgess shale, and yet, do I write the "Marella Blog," or run "Marella Clothing" on cafepress? I think not. Wikipedia gives Marella 400 words, compared to 2800 for trilobites.

Marella is like the girl in your class who you would never have paid attention to, except she looked at little like the totally hot trilobite you had your eye on. But Marella had the better personality, so you would have been better off with her all along.

So, I propose we take a moment out of our busy, trilobite laden, schedules, and appreciate Marella Splendens.