Paleontologists have found fossils of an arthropod with 220 limbs
Miscellaneous / / July 08, 2022
It was named after a giant fish from Arabian mythology.
In Canada, in a rock formation called the Burgess Shale, fossils of an unusual Cambrian arthropod with 220 limbs have been discovered. Article about the find published in iScience magazine.
Scientists note that this animal had an arch-like carapace and an extremely elongated body of 110 segments - a pair of limbs for each. The size of the creature reached 245 mm, which makes it one of the largest known Cambrian arthropods.
It is assumed that the animal could live both at the bottom and in the water column. A huge number of limbs made him an excellent swimmer, and scientists do not exclude that it swam upside down.
The creature was named Balhuticaris voltae, after Balhut, a giant fish from Arab mythology.
The Burgess Shale, where the arthropod was found, is a unique formation on the slopes of Mount Stephen in Yoho National Park in the Canadian Rockies. It is one of the richest paleontological sites in the world, where various fossils from the Cambrian period are often found.
Read also🧐
- 10 terrible creatures of the past that have become extinct. Luckily
- Paleontologists have found a place to study the development of life on Earth over 120 million years
- Paleontologists have figured out why megalodons died out
Cover: Artistic rendering of the creature / Hugo Salais / Izquierdo-López & Caron / iScience
Best deals of the week: discounts from AliExpress, LitRes, Christina and other stores