Fuxianhuiid Fossil Find Shows Ancient Sea Creature's Feeding Limbs
Posted on March 4, 2013
An amazing fossil find in South China has enabled scientists to study the feeding limbs and nervous system of a fuxianhuiid, a 520 million year old arthropod. The creature, with the scientific name, Chengjiangocaris kunmingensis, was flipped over before fossilization. The fossil reveals that the creature had feeding limbs under its head which shoveled food into its mouth. A photograph of the fossil is pictured above and an artist's reconstruction - showing the feeding limbs - is below.
Scientists refer to this feeding technique as "detritus sweep-feeding." The limbs push seafloor sediment into the mouth, where it is filtered for organic matter. Fuxianhuiid arthropods are thought to have spent most of their lives grazing on the sea floor with their feeding limbs.
Javier Ortega-Hernandez, from Cambridge's Department of Earth Sciences, said in the announcement, "Since biologists rely heavily on organisation of head appendages to classify arthropod groups, such as insects and spiders, our study provides a crucial reference point for reconstructing the evolutionary history and relationships of the most diverse and abundant animals on Earth. This is as early as we can currently see into arthropod limb development."
The ancient athropods were not large. Complete Fuxianhuia specimens are about 3 centimeters (1.18 inches) long according to a Wikipedia entry. The research about the new fossil revealing feeding limbs was published in the journal, Nature.
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