‘Spaceship’ fossil hints at rich diversity of ancient seas GlobeTechnology
The latest fossil find to come out of the Canadian rockies is a spaceship-shaped creature that is much larger than most critters that were skittering around on the ocean floor during the Cambrian era.Scientists at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto have unveiled a previously unknown family of extinct animals – nicknamed “spaceships” because of their science fiction appearance – that lived off the coast of what would eventually become North America about 506 million years ago.
The creature is the most spectacular find to come out of a new section of rocks that the ROM has opened up for exploration of an early period in the history of animal life similar to the Burgess Shale.The latest to be unveiled is Cambroraster falactus, a football-shaped arthropod that motored along the seafloor, presumably using its comb-like claws to scoop up worms and other tiny critters wriggling in the mud.
Dr. Caron and his team came across Cambroraster last year during their first detailed exploration of a fossil-rich area called Tokumm Creek, not far from the Burgess Shale. They found dozens of examples of the creature’s distinctive carapace, which likely helped protect it from predators, somewhat like a turtle’s shell. Two notches on either side of the carapace provided openings through which Cambroraster could peer upward and backward, watching for danger, while it moved blindly forward.
The find is an exciting one because Cambroraster is so large – roughly palm-sized – whereas many Cambrian fauna never grew longer than a few centimetres.
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