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Description
So here it is, the first episode of my own "Walking with Monsters" version. Due to the sheer number of evolutionary steps during the Paleozoic and the fact that most faunal assemblages known don´t offer the diversity (or even just the number) necessary for a 10 species setting, every episode has two settings with 5 species each.

Middle Cambrian British Columbia, 508 million years ago (Burgess Shale). The Burgess Shale is a classic example for the spike in biodiversity known as "Cambrian explosion", so it´s kinda odd that the original WWM didn´t use this setting. They went with the Chengjiang biota since that one has more well-preserved chordates, I guess, but I wanted to put the more famous place in the limelight. Many depictions make the invertebrates rather boring in colour, ranging from brown to gray. I wanted to make them much more colorful, because I´d imagine them creeping and crawling around in a sponge reef, and sponges can get very trippy colours.
Anomalocaris canadensis: With a length of 70 centimeters, this lobopod is the biggest animal of its time. There has been some controversy over whether its mouthparts are really suited for eating the hard-shelled trilobites of its time or whether it could only suck in small soft-bodied organisms. The most recent study seems to say that it could eat hard-shelled trilobites, so yeah, it´s gonna be the apex predator of this setting who hunts everything smaller than itself. Colours inspired by a Peacock Mantis Shrimp.
Opabinia regalis: The weirdest creature to ever have existed, this lobopod has five eyes and a proboscis with a claw at its tip. At 7 centimeters, it´s a small omnivore which feeds on anything small enough to be picked up by its proboscis. Colours inspired by a Zebra Mantis Shrimp.
Pikaia gracilens: This 4 centimeter long chordate is depicted as a possible ancestor of all vertebrates, even though there has already been a more advanced chordate discovered in the Burgess Shale. But I wanted to feature the oldschool animal. Colours based on a worm or a lancelet.
Hallucigenia sparsa: Another Cambrian classic, this 3.5 centimeter long lobopod is famous for confusing paleontologists for half a century. Thanks to a new study, we now know it had a small head with two little eyes and a tiny toothy mouth. It will be depicted as climbing around on sponges and sucking up food particles with its mouth.
Olenoides serratus: The obligatory trilobite. Trilobites had their biggest number of species during the Cambrian and Olenoides is well-known from the Burgess Shale. At 9 centimeters long, it´s a nice Anomalocaris snack. Unfortunately, the inclusion of this trilobite means that the actual most common animal of the Burgess Shale, the arthropod Marrella, is not featured in this episode.

Middle Ordovician New York, 460 million years ago. As you can see, I don´t even have the name of a particular formation for this one, and most of the genera seem to span almost the entire Ordovician as well, so this is a pretty generic cast. Again, imagine them living in a reef of sponges (now there are the first corals and byrozoans, too), so the arthropods are a little bit more colorful than usual.
Cameroceras trentonense: I have no idea which species is the largest, but I do know that the 9 meter estimate has been downsized to around 6 meters. This makes it still the largest animal of its time, which is why it is usually depicted as an apex predator. However, there is no evidence that this primitive nautiloid had the same powerful beak and suckered tentacles as the modern coleoids. This reconstruction is based on ´s Endoceras, which is depicted as a planktivore instead of an active hunter. www.deviantart.com/art/The-ugl…
Astraspis desiderata: The obligatory jawless armored fish. It is 20 centimeters long, feeds on detritus and reminds us just how boring vertebrates were during the Ordovician.
Megalograptus welchi: If the giant nautiloids only feed on plankton, that would make this 1.2 meter long eurypterid the apex predator of this place. Of course it isn´t going to battle giant nautiloids; it will prey on trilobites and primitive fish. It can also use its long spiny claws to filter worms out of the sand. Pose based on this illustration: palaeos.com/metazoa/arthropoda… DRAWING ALL THOSE SEGMENTS AND SPINES ON ITS CLAWS IS FREAKING HARD!
Isotelus rex: The original I-Rex, and record holder for biggest trilobite species known, being 72 centimeters long and 40 centimeters wide. I´m not sure if an adult Isotelus would be on the menu of Megalograptus, those claws seem rather delicate compared to that big fat shield of a trilobite. I think the colour of this one was based on a Peacock Mantis Shrimp, too.
Paraceraurus ruedemanni: Or is it Cheirurus? Or just Ceraurus? There is so much trilobite lumping and splitting going on, I don´t really care. This is a 16 centimeter long trilobite with two long spikes on its cephalon and two long spikes on its pygidium. The spikes are both for sexual display and for protection against predators, so I gave it a warning colour scheme based on a Red Lionfish.

Description
So here it is, the first episode of my own "Walking with Monsters" version. Due to the sheer number of evolutionary steps during the Paleozoic and the fact that most faunal assemblages known don´t offer the diversity (or even just the number) necessary for a 10 species setting, every episode has two settings with 5 species each.

Middle Cambrian British Columbia, 508 million years ago (Burgess Shale). The Burgess Shale is a classic example for the spike in biodiversity known as "Cambrian explosion", so it´s kinda odd that the original WWM didn´t use this setting. They went with the Chengjiang biota since that one has more well-preserved chordates, I guess, but I wanted to put the more famous place in the limelight. Many depictions make the invertebrates rather boring in colour, ranging from brown to gray. I wanted to make them much more colorful, because I´d imagine them creeping and crawling around in a sponge reef, and sponges can get very trippy colours.
Anomalocaris canadensis: With a length of 70 centimeters, this lobopod is the biggest animal of its time. There has been some controversy over whether its mouthparts are really suited for eating the hard-shelled trilobites of its time or whether it could only suck in small soft-bodied organisms. The most recent study seems to say that it could eat hard-shelled trilobites, so yeah, it´s gonna be the apex predator of this setting who hunts everything smaller than itself. Colours inspired by a Peacock Mantis Shrimp.
Opabinia regalis: The weirdest creature to ever have existed, this lobopod has five eyes and a proboscis with a claw at its tip. At 7 centimeters, it´s a small omnivore which feeds on anything small enough to be picked up by its proboscis. Colours inspired by a Zebra Mantis Shrimp.
Pikaia gracilens: This 4 centimeter long chordate is depicted as a possible ancestor of all vertebrates, even though there has already been a more advanced chordate discovered in the Burgess Shale. But I wanted to feature the oldschool animal. Colours based on a worm or a lancelet.
Hallucigenia sparsa: Another Cambrian classic, this 3.5 centimeter long lobopod is famous for confusing paleontologists for half a century. Thanks to a new study, we now know it had a small head with two little eyes and a tiny toothy mouth. It will be depicted as climbing around on sponges and sucking up food particles with its mouth.
Olenoides serratus: The obligatory trilobite. Trilobites had their biggest number of species during the Cambrian and Olenoides is well-known from the Burgess Shale. At 9 centimeters long, it´s a nice Anomalocaris snack. Unfortunately, the inclusion of this trilobite means that the actual most common animal of the Burgess Shale, the arthropod Marrella, is not featured in this episode.

Middle Ordovician New York, 460 million years ago. As you can see, I don´t even have the name of a particular formation for this one, and most of the genera seem to span almost the entire Ordovician as well, so this is a pretty generic cast. Again, imagine them living in a reef of sponges (now there are the first corals and byrozoans, too), so the arthropods are a little bit more colorful than usual.
Cameroceras trentonense: I have no idea which species is the largest, but I do know that the 9 meter estimate has been downsized to around 6 meters. This makes it still the largest animal of its time, which is why it is usually depicted as an apex predator. However, there is no evidence that this primitive nautiloid had the same powerful beak and suckered tentacles as the modern coleoids. This reconstruction is based on ´s Endoceras, which is depicted as a planktivore instead of an active hunter. www.deviantart.com/art/The-ugl…
Astraspis desiderata: The obligatory jawless armored fish. It is 20 centimeters long, feeds on detritus and reminds us just how boring vertebrates were during the Ordovician.
Megalograptus welchi: If the giant nautiloids only feed on plankton, that would make this 1.2 meter long eurypterid the apex predator of this place. Of course it isn´t going to battle giant nautiloids; it will prey on trilobites and primitive fish. It can also use its long spiny claws to filter worms out of the sand. Pose based on this illustration: palaeos.com/metazoa/arthropoda… DRAWING ALL THOSE SEGMENTS AND SPINES ON ITS CLAWS IS FREAKING HARD!
Isotelus rex: The original I-Rex, and record holder for biggest trilobite species known, being 72 centimeters long and 40 centimeters wide. I´m not sure if an adult Isotelus would be on the menu of Megalograptus, those claws seem rather delicate compared to that big fat shield of a trilobite. I think the colour of this one was based on a Peacock Mantis Shrimp, too.
Paraceraurus ruedemanni: Or is it Cheirurus? Or just Ceraurus? There is so much trilobite lumping and splitting going on, I don´t really care. This is a 16 centimeter long trilobite with two long spikes on its cephalon and two long spikes on its pygidium. The spikes are both for sexual display and for protection against predators, so I gave it a warning colour scheme based on a Red Lionfish.