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An alien-like creature with protruding spikes that lived more than 500 million years ago was discovered in British Columbia.
The lobopodian, named Entothyreos synnaustrus, was found in an area of Yoho National Park called the Tulip Beds in the Burgess Shale. There have been 10,000 specimens collected from the area since its discovery by the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in 1983.
“The Burgess Shale is famous for its exquisite fossils of soft-bodied organisms. It is exceptional to find complete animals preserved, especially ones that had only soft tissues and no mineralized structures,” according to to the Royal Ontario Museum’s webpage about the site.
In a new study published in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, researchers described the recently identified lobopodian. There have been a total of 51 specimens of this new species recovered to date.
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The creature — that looks like a worm with a spiky exterior — had 11 lobopods (or appendages), with claws at the end. It measured only 5 centimetres.
The anterior six lobopods had a “dense array of small spines,” according to the study. Its anterior limbs were used for suspension-feeding and its “stout” posterior limbs were used to anchor itself in place, the study said. Its back appendages “likely served a protective function,” according to researchers.
“Entothyreos synnaustrus demonstrates a distinct system of overlapping and hardened body plates along its trunk. It also had hardened rings surrounding the bases of its limbs,” as per science blog Everything Dinosaur.
“The discovery of Entothyreos synnaustrus suggests that the evolution of arthropod-like features, such as segmented and hardened body parts, may have emerged in parallel among the ancestors of arthropods. This broadens our understanding of how major anatomical innovations can arise in the history of life.”
Arthropods are invertebrates with exoskeletons, like lobsters, crabs and spiders.
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The lobopodian likely existed during the Cambrian explosion, which started roughly 542 million years ago.
“The Burgess Shale, at 505 million years old, records the tail end of the event,” according to the ROM.
“The fundamental ecological structure of modern marine communities was firmly established during the Cambrian. By the end of the period, some animals had also made the first temporary forays onto land, soon to be followed by plants.”
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