Orthrozanclus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Orthrozanclus Fossil range: Middle Cambrian |
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Scientific classification | ||||||||||
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Binomial name | ||||||||||
Orthrozanclus reburrus Morris & Caron, 2007 |
Orthrozanclus reburrus ("Dawn scythe with bristling hair") is a sea creature known from the Middle Cambrian (~Burgess shale, about one centimeter long, with long spikes protruding from its armored body
)The describers of this fossil animal, Simon Conway Morris and Jean-Bernard Caron, say Orthrozanclus may have formed a link between the halkieriid and the wiwaxiid families,[1] uniting them tentatively in a group called "Halwaxiida", characterized by a similar type of body armor; these organisms might have been stem group molluscs, or fall as a stem group to the larger lophotrochozoan clade (containing molluscs, annelids and brachiopods). However, the status of the Halwaxiid grouping is not universally accepted.[2]
[edit] External links
- Spiky oddball prowled ocean half billion years ago. Yahoo UK & Ireland News
- New fossil unites three branches of life in the Cambrian. Ars Technica
[edit] References
- ^ Conway Morris, S; Caron, J-B. (2 March 2007). "Halwaxiids and the Early Evolution of the Lophotrochozoans". Science 315: 1255–1258. doi: .
- ^ N.J., Butterfield (2007-18-12). "Lophotrochozoan roots and stems" in Palaeontological Association Annual Meeting. Budd, G.E.; Streng, M.; Daley, A.C.; Willman, S. Programme with Abstracts: 26-7.