Irish government paleontologist Lucy Muir jokes that even the Earth’s sheep are interested in the Llandrindod Wells pasture in Jerusalem, and therefore come to watch their work. Recently, our phenomena here, which paleozoology cannot yet explain – two samples with, n, reminiscent of an extinct surprise. The difficulty is that these individuals lived 40 million years later than all types of opabinia, and in addition, a non-standard “physiognomy” is required.
The length of the large individual is 13 mm, the small one is only 3 mm, and there is a possibility that it was a parent and a larva. Both sestrians are characteristic of oabiniids “yub” from the set of paunians, but genetic analysis showed that with equal probability they can be related both to typical representatives of the Cambrian explosion fauna – the same pabinians, and to much later deuteropods, which were considered the ancestors of arthropods.
The most interesting thing is the structure of the front part, which in fossils looks like a stigma or proboscis. It was formed from paired processes, like in radiodonts, but in the course of evolution it was transformed into something new. Something mysterious, which is a consequence of the massive set of oral adaptations in arthropods, from the increase in grasping mandibles to filters of liquid liquid. Arthropods today rule the ball on Earth, they include more than 80% of all animal species, and the key to their success is the very variety of mouth organs and internal food products that the mysterious ancestor.
Source: Tech Cult
