Aquilonifer
| Aquilonifer Temporal range: Wenlock
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|---|---|
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| Aquilonifer spinosus | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Stem group: | Mandibulata |
| Genus: | †Aquilonifer Briggs, Siveter, Siveter, Sutton & Legg, 2016[1] |
| Species: | †A. pinosus
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| Binomial name | |
| †Aquilonifer pinosus Briggs, Siveter, Siveter, Sutton & Legg, 2016
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Aquilonifer spinosus is an extinct species of arthropod from the Silurian period.[2][3] It is known from a single fossil specimen found in the Wenlock Series Lagerstätte of Herefordshire, England, in rocks about 430 million years old. The 1 cm long specimen is a stem-group mandibulate, not directly related to any living species. The many-legged, eyeless adult has ten unusual tethered appendages, interpreted as juveniles attached to the parent, in a unique form and previously unknown brooding behaviour.[1]
Studies in 2018 and 2022 recovered Aquilonifer as a possible close relative of Pycnogonida and Marrellomorpha, suggesting that the latter is a paraphyletic group, but this result was considered unexpected by the authors of both studies.[4][5]
Etymology
[edit]"Aquilone" is Italian for "toy kite", and the suffix "–ifer" means "to carry".[3] "Spinosus" means "spiny" in Latin. Its discoverers have nicknamed it "the kite runner".[2]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Briggs, D.E.G.; Siveter, D.J.; Siveter, D.J.; Sutton, M.D.; Legg, D. (2016). "Tiny individuals attached to a new Silurian arthropod suggest a unique mode of brood care". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 113 (16): 4410–4415. doi:10.1073/pnas.1600489113.
- ^ a b Jonathan Webb (4 April 2016). "Bizarre fossil hauled its offspring around 'like kites'". BBC News.
- ^ a b Cassie Martin (4 April 2016). "Ancient arthropod kept its brood close". ScienceNews.
- ^ Vannier, Jean; Aria, Cédric; Taylor, Rod S.; Caron, Jean-Bernard (June 2018). "Waptia fieldensis Walcott, a mandibulate arthropod from the middle Cambrian Burgess Shale". Royal Society Open Science. 5 (6): 172206. Bibcode:2018RSOS....572206V. doi:10.1098/rsos.172206. ISSN 2054-5703. PMC 6030330. PMID 30110460.
- ^ Moysiuk, Joseph; Izquierdo-López, Alejandro; Kampouris, George E.; Caron, Jean-Bernard (July 2022). "A new marrellomorph arthropod from southern Ontario: a rare case of soft-tissue preservation on a Late Ordovician open marine shelf". Journal of Paleontology. 96 (4): 859–874. Bibcode:2022JPal...96..859M. doi:10.1017/jpa.2022.11. ISSN 0022-3360.
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