A problematic soft-bodied fossil from the Cambrian (Miaolingian, Wuliuan) of Utah

The Spence Shale of Utah and Idaho preserves a diverse soft-bodied biota from the Cambrian. While the fauna is dominated by arthropods and echinoderms, soft-bodied animals belonging to other groups are known. Here we document Tentalus spencensis gen. et sp. nov. from the High Creek locality of the Spence Shale. The fossil has a crown of short stubby tentacles and appears to have been attached to the sediment through a stalk. The morphology of Tentalus suggests that it is a dinomischiid or deuterostome; however, it cannot be attributed to any of the known species, based on the short and conical tentacles surrounding an oral region, and polyp-like oblong columnar trunk terminating in a stalk, that do not resemble any described species.