寒星物语

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/velvet-worms-mazzatenta.html

Velvet Worms, Hamburg, Germany
Photograph by O. Louis Mazzatenta

These intertwined velvet worms, or onychophorans, are living fossils, holdovers of the Cambrian explosion of life-forms that occurred about 530 million years ago. Velvet worms became land dwellers some 250 million years ago but survive today only in dark, moist habitats such as the leaf litter in Costa Rican forests. These worms were photographed at the University of Hamburg in Hamburg, Germany.

(Photo shot on assignment for “Explosion of Life: The Cambrian Period,” October 1993, National Geographic magazine)
译文:

天鹅绒虫,汉堡,德国
摄影:O. Louis Mazzatenta

这些彼此缠绕的有爪纲动物天鹅绒虫是约五亿三千万年前寒武纪物种大爆炸留下来的活化石。天鹅绒虫在约两亿五千万年前演化为陆生生物，但延续至今只栖息在阴暗潮湿的地方，比如哥斯达黎加森林里的落叶堆下。这些虫子是在德国的汉堡大学里拍摄的。

(照片来源于《生物大爆炸：寒武纪》(1993年10月,国家地理杂志))