Ooedigera peeli is an extinct deuterostome

Deuterostome

Deuterostomes are a superphylum of animals. They are a subtaxon of the Bilateria branch of the subregnum Eumetazoa, and are opposed to the protostomes...

 from the Early Cambrian Sirius Passet

Sirius Passet

Sirius Passet is a Cambrian Lagerstätte in Greenland. The Sirius Passet Lagerstätte was named after the Sirius sledge patrol that operates in North Greenland. It comprises six localities located on the eastern shore of J.P. Koch Fjord in the far north of Greenland. It was discovered in 1984 by A....

 Lagerstatte

Lagerstätte

A Lagerstätte is a sedimentary deposit that exhibits extraordinary fossil richness or completeness.Palaeontologists distinguish two kinds....

of Greenland

Greenland

Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...

. So far, it is the third described vetulicolia

Vetulicolia

VetulicoliaThe phylum name, Vetulocolia, is derived from the type genus, Vetulicola, which is a compound Latin word composed of vetuli, or "old," and cola, or "inhabitant." is an extinct phylum encompassing several Cambrian organisms...

n that is not restricted to the Maotianshan Shales

Maotianshan shales

The Maotianshan Shales are a series of lower Cambrian deposits in the Chiungchussu formation, famous for their Konservat Lagerstätten, or high number of fossils preserved in place...

 (the other two being Banffia

Banffia

Banffia is a genus of animals described from Middle Cambrian fossils. The genus commemorates Banff, Alberta, near where the first fossil specimens were discovered. Its placement in higher taxa is controversial.- Anatomy :...

of the Burgess Shale

Burgess Shale

The Burgess Shale Formation, located in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, is one of the world's most celebrated fossil fields, and the best of its kind. It is famous for the exceptional preservation of the soft parts of its fossils...

, and Skeemella

Skeemella

Skeemella clavula is an elongate animal from what is now the Middle Cambrian Wheeler Shale lagerstatten, of Utah....

of the Wheeler Shale

Wheeler Shale

The Wheeler Shale is a Cambrian fossil locality world famousfor prolific agnostid and Elrathia kingii trilobite remains...

).

Anatomy

O. peeli is known from a single fossil that depicts a 41.3 mm long organism with an egg-shaped carapace and a laterally compressed, paddle-shaped tail. It strongly resembles various members of the Maotianshan genus, Vetulicola

Vetulicola

Vetulicola is a genus of small, Early Cambrian animals from the Chengjiang biota of China.-Description:The type species, Vetulicola cuneata has a body composed of two distinct parts of approximately equal length. The front part is rectangular with a carapace-like structure of four rigid cuticular...

, in shape. It differs from Vetulicola, in that the carapace is ornamented with numerous raised tubercles, similar to the ornamentation of Beidazoon venustum. The taphonomy

Taphonomy

Taphonomy is the study of decaying organisms over time and how they become fossilized . The term taphonomy was introduced to paleontology in 1940 by Russian scientist Ivan Efremov to describe the study of the transition of remains, parts, or products of organisms, from the biosphere, to the...

 of the fossil also suggests that the integument of the animal was softer than that of either genus.

Etymology

The genus name translates as "Geriatric Egg" or "Elderly Egg," in reference to the fossil being the oldest known vetulicolian. The species name commemorates Professor John S. Peel for his work in paleontology in Greenland.