Posted on 03/19/2009 6:05:08 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A giant head and gill-covered body make this newly reconstructed creature (pictured) "one of most bizarre fossil creatures that there is," one scientist said.
The 505-million-year-old critter was first identified in 1912 from fossil pieces. Over the years, bits of it showed up in museum collections mislabeled as jellyfish, sea cucumbers, and various other creatures.
But expeditions in the 1990s began to uncover more complete specimens, which suggested the animal, dubbed Hurdia Victoria, was much more unique than previously thought.
Now, a well-preserved specimen found in the collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., and fossil fragments from the Burgess Shale in British Columbia, Canada, have helped scientists to finally piece together the animal's appearance.
(Related: "Museum Secrets Unmasked by "Museomics" Technologies".)
At about 12 to 16 inches (30 to 40 centimeters) long, Hurdia was one of the largest hunters prowling the seas during the Cambrian period.
As a free swimmer—a trait rare at that time—the invertebrate likely caught "whatever it could get its claws onto," such as mollusks and sponges, said lead study author Allison Daley, a Ph.D. student at Sweden's Uppsala University.
The shield protruding from Hurdia's head—which did not offer protection to its body—has particularly stumped Daley and colleagues, whose research appears tomorrow in the journal Science.
Daley speculates that the shield acted as a feeding aid, funneling prey toward the animal's appendages.
Not being a jerk but doesn’t that thing look tasty? Like in jambalaya or that New Orleans thing with crawfish.
Put a “black widow” dress on it and it could pass for Michele.
I would speculate it folded within itself, like an aadvark, for protection.
Another Burgess Shale beastie.
12 to 16 inches, but wasn’t Anomalocaris an even bigger predator?
LOLOL!!! I was expecting this to be post #1.....
Lets get Mikey to try it
I was a tad late get'n here.
How do we know if its not really 506 million years old?
whoa...cool !
I was sure it was going to be Michelle Obama....
First hand testimony from one Helen Thomas, Washington DC.
And he ran for president.
It was, but since there are few known creatures from this time period, and even fewer that were this big, they can still say it was one of the largest (known).
Also, this thing bears more than a small resemblance to Anomalocaris as well, note the appendages under the head, near the (presumed) location of the mouth.
If you haven’t yet seen it, the BBC “Walking with...” series has one episode called “Walking with monsters” that looks at the Cambrian period, including Anomalocaris, along with the Carboniferous period, and the advent of the “mammal-like” reptiles like Dimetrodon and Diictodont. It’s well worth it, even though the producers took some liberties with the animals in the area of behaviors (since we have no idea what they really did). I would have liked to see some of the other Burgess creatures like Wiwaxia and Hallucinogenia
Oooooweeee! I'm wit you cher!
Please, a nicer man you will not find. Can’t you post Keith Oberself or some other flimflam liberal, not conservative, gentleman, Neil Cavuto?
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