About: Tegopelte

Tegopelte gigas (from the Greek tegos, “tile,” and pelte, “leather-shield,” referring to the shape of the dorsal body covering; gigas – from the Greek gigas, “giant,” due to the huge size of the animal) is a species of large (1 complete specimen was 27 cm) soft-bodied arthropod known from two specimens from the Burgess Shale. Trackways that may have been produced by this organism or a close relative are known from the , stratigraphically below its body fossil occurrences. T. gigas is the only species classified under the genus Tegopelte. It is usually classified under its own family , but is sometimes placed under the family Naraoiidae. It is currently considered a member of within the Artiopoda.