Post by Infinity Blade on Apr 12, 2015 19:18:52 GMT 5
Yawunik kootenayi
Life reconstruction of Yawunik kootenayi © Nobu Tamura / Wikimedia CC BY-SA 4.0
Temporal range: Cambrian (~508Ma)[1]
Scientific classification:
Domain: Eukaryota
(unranked): Unikonta
(unranked): Opisthokonta
(unranked): Holozoa
(unranked): Filozoa
Kingdom: Animalia
Subkingdom: Eumetazoa
(unranked): Bilateria
Clade: Nephrozoa
(unranked): Protostomia
Superphylum: Ecdysozoa
Phylum or Stem-group: Arthropoda
Class: †Megacheira
Order: †Leanchoilida
Family: †Leanchoiliidae
Genus: †Yawunik
Species: †Y. kootenayi
Yawunik kootenayi is an extinct species of arthropod (Leanchoiliidae) that lived in British Colombia (Marble Canyon locality of the Burgess Shale; Kootenay National Park) during the Cambrian. Forty-two specimens were recovered from the aforementioned location. According to the description paper, "Yawunik is characterized by a 12-segmented trunk and a carinate, lanceolate telson adorned with minute spines. The ‘great appendages’ of the animal bear teeth on their two distal rami, which would have enhanced their ability to grasp prey. Attitudes of specimens, resulting from burial at multiple aspects of bedding, suggest the ‘great appendages’ were flexible and capable of antero-posterior rotation".[2] It's not unlikely prey could have included animals such as worms and other small organisms.[1]
A fossil of Yawunik. © Jean-Bernard Caron / Royal Ontario Museum
References:
[1] Scientists Uncover Yet Another Cambrian Weirdo
[2] "A large new leanchoiliid from the Burgess Shale and the influence of inapplicable states on stem arthropod phylogeny" (Aria et al., 2015).
Life reconstruction of Yawunik kootenayi © Nobu Tamura / Wikimedia CC BY-SA 4.0
Temporal range: Cambrian (~508Ma)[1]
Scientific classification:
Domain: Eukaryota
(unranked): Unikonta
(unranked): Opisthokonta
(unranked): Holozoa
(unranked): Filozoa
Kingdom: Animalia
Subkingdom: Eumetazoa
(unranked): Bilateria
Clade: Nephrozoa
(unranked): Protostomia
Superphylum: Ecdysozoa
Phylum or Stem-group: Arthropoda
Class: †Megacheira
Order: †Leanchoilida
Family: †Leanchoiliidae
Genus: †Yawunik
Species: †Y. kootenayi
Yawunik kootenayi is an extinct species of arthropod (Leanchoiliidae) that lived in British Colombia (Marble Canyon locality of the Burgess Shale; Kootenay National Park) during the Cambrian. Forty-two specimens were recovered from the aforementioned location. According to the description paper, "Yawunik is characterized by a 12-segmented trunk and a carinate, lanceolate telson adorned with minute spines. The ‘great appendages’ of the animal bear teeth on their two distal rami, which would have enhanced their ability to grasp prey. Attitudes of specimens, resulting from burial at multiple aspects of bedding, suggest the ‘great appendages’ were flexible and capable of antero-posterior rotation".[2] It's not unlikely prey could have included animals such as worms and other small organisms.[1]
A fossil of Yawunik. © Jean-Bernard Caron / Royal Ontario Museum
References:
[1] Scientists Uncover Yet Another Cambrian Weirdo
[2] "A large new leanchoiliid from the Burgess Shale and the influence of inapplicable states on stem arthropod phylogeny" (Aria et al., 2015).
