What is Pikaia?
{{italic title}} {{Taxobox | name = ''Pikaia'' | fossil_range = Mid [[Cambrian]] | image = Pikaia3ZICA.png | image_width = 250px | regnum = [[Animal]]ia | phylum = [[Chordata]] | classis = [[Leptocardii]] | ordo = [[Amphioxiformes]] | genus = '''''Pikaia''''' }} '''''Pikaia''''' is an extinct genus of prehistoric [[lancelet]]. It is regarded as the earliest known primitive [[chordate]] from the Middle [[Cambrian]] fossil found near Mount Pika in the [[Burgess Shale]] of [[British Columbia]]. It was discovered by [[Charles Walcott]] in [[1911]]. Walcott classified it as a [[polychaete]] worm. It was about 40&nbsp;mm in length and swam above the sea-floor. ''Pikaia'' may have filtered particles from the water as it swam along. Only 60 specimens have been found to date. {{biology-stub}} [[Category:Fossils]]