A team of international paleontologists from the University of Toronto, have discovered a terrifying-sounding new species of lobster-like marine creature. The four-eyed faced Cambrian predator with a wicked set of arms and which has since been named Yawunik kootenayi is thought to have lived 508 million years ago and during the Cambrian Period.
It is during the Cambrian Period that majority of the complex ecosystem and animal groups first appeared in the fossil records. The fossil is of approximately 6 inches long hence the size of an “empanada”.
The lead author and a PhD. candidate in the department of ecology and evolutionary biologyCédric Aria thinks that the discovery of the 500 year old lobster will be of great assistance in broadening the scientists’ perspective on the overall anatomy of one of the first species of arthropods.
It is believed that this species could have been part of group from which modern lobsters and spiders eventually evolved from. Aria further expounds that the lobster ancestor had the same features which resembles those of the modern arthropod. Some of these features include the segmented body and an external skeleton.
However, this Cambrian predator did not have certain features that were found in modern arthropods. This makes the scientists conclude that the fossils belonged to a creature that can be called the “stem of arthropods.”
This prehistoric lobster had the capability of moving its frontal appendages in forward and backward directions. The creature could also be able to spread the appendages whenever it needed to retract or catch prey that could be hiding beneath its body especially when moving in the waters.
Yawunik has long flagella that resembled a whip and which were highly sensitive and also extended from its claws.It is said to hold a holds an important role in the food network within the prehistoric ecosystem.
A state-of-the-art technology called “elemental mapping” was used in carrying out the 500 million year old fossils.