Introducing Cambroraster falcatus —
But could the 500-million-year-old arthropod have made Kessel Run in under 12 parsecs?
A new species from the Burgess Shale has been discovered by paleontologists from the Royal Ontario Museum.
Paleontologists excavating a site in the Canadian Rockies known as the Burgess Shale have discovered the fossilized remains of a heretofore-unknown species of arthropod with a distinctive horseshoe-shaped upper shell. They whimsically named the speciesCambroraster falcatusafter theMillennium Falconstarship piloted by Han Solo in theStar Warsfranchise. The discovery, reported ina new paperin the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, sheds light on the diversity of the earliest relatives of insects, crabs, and spiders.
Discovered in 1909 by paleontologistCharles Walcottand dating back to the mid-Cambrian era some 508 million years ago, theBurgess Shalehas since become one of the richest troves of preserved fossils from that period. The lateStephen Jay Gouldimmortalized its importance in his bestselling 1989 book,Wonderful Life, in which he argued (somewhat controversially) that the sheer diversity of the Burgess Shale fossils was evidence for several unique evolutionary lineages that became extinct, rather that continuing down to today's modernphyla. The Burgess Shale was declared a World Heritage Site in 1980.
In 2013, scientists discovered yet another piece of the Burgess Shale inKootenay National Parkand excavated the fossilized remains of some 50 new species in just 15 days. That's the area where a team of paleontologists affiliated with the Royal Ontario Museum discovered this latest arthropod.
As geologist David Bressan, who was not involved in the discovery,writes at Forbes:
Cambroraster falcatusdisplays, likeAnomalocaris, lateral flaps that stretched along the lower portion of its body and a set of disc-like jaws. The new species was smaller thanAnomalocaris, up to a foot long, yet still a giant compared to other Burgess Shale creatures, most less than one inch long. Its body protected by an unusually large carapace covering almost the entire animal. The researchers think thatCambrorasterwas, like its larger relative, a predator. UnlikeAnomalocaris, a fast swimmer thanks to the flexible lateral fins and able to catch prey in open water with its tentacles,Cambrorasterused its carapax to plow through the upper layers of the seafloor, catching smaller animals hiding there with a series of appendages and hooked spines surrounding its mouth.
"We really didn't know what to make of it," co-authorJoe Moysiukof the University of Torontotold CBC News. "We nicknamed it 'The spaceship' because we thought it looked a lot like theMillennium Falcon." And the name stuck, to the delight ofStar Warsfans everywhere.
"Cambroraster is kind of showing a mish-mash of traits that we see in some modern groups,"Moysiuk saidof the find's significance. "It's telling us that the Cambrian ecosystems were really complex. This is not a sort of primitive, simple organism. This is a highly specialized predator."
Moment of discovery
Burgess Shale excavation site in in Kootenay National Park.
Paleontologists from the Royal Ontario Museum in the field.
Beginning the delicate task of removing the newly discovered fossil from the shale.
Easy does it....
Voila! MeetCambroraster falcatus.
The 500-million-year-old arthropod has rake-like claws and a pineapple-slice-shaped mouth at the front of an enormous head
Complete fossil showing the eyes and the body with paired swimming flaps below the large head carapace.
Joe Moysiuk (left) and Jean-Bernard Caron were part of a team that excavated the fossils at the Burgess Shale in Kootenay National Park.
Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 2019. DOI:10.1098/rspb.2019.1079(About DOIs).
Listing image byYouTube/ROM
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