Scientists have uncovered an odd new Cambrian sea creature referred to as Mosura fentoni in Canada’s well-known Burgess shale. M. fentoni is a radiodont, a distant relative of in the present day’s bugs, crabs, and spiders, but it breaks a number of guidelines thought to outline that group.
M. fentoni reveals that even small Cambrian radiodonts could possibly be extremely specialised swimmers with superior respiratory techniques, including a brand new chapter to the story of how arthropods turned so numerous.
M. fentoni’s physique is unusually lengthy for its small measurement (1.5-6 cm). Its physique has 26 segments in three zones. A brief neck helps the top. A mesotrunk of six paddle-formed flaps work like propellers for swimming; and a posterotrunk of as much as 16 segments is full of rows of skinny gills whereas its flaps shrink to stubs. Because the gills dominate this rear zone, researchers have mentioned the posterotrunk is a particular respiratory tagma — a placing parallel to the oxygen-gathering tails of horseshoe crabs.
When the crew positioned M. fentoni in a household tree, it landed close to the bottom of the hurdiid radiodonts. That place along with its extremely divided physique suggests early radiodonts had been already experimenting with other ways to separate and specialise their segments. That is, this skill, which later exploded in crabs, bugs and different arthropods, might have been rooted in these historical predators.
Published – May 25, 2025 03:17 pm IST
