Ancient Anthropod Named After Star Wars' Millennium Falcon

Popular Mechanics ^ | January 31, 2019 | Daisy Hernandez

[C19fan]

Cambroraster falcatus was an ancient, primitive arthropod that dominated the ocean approximately 506 million years ago during the Cambrian period. The creature's name was inspired, in part, by Star Wars' Millennium Falcon due to its similar resemblance of the fictional spacecraft (sort of).

C. falcatus, which was roughly the size of a human hand when fully grown though this fossil was nearly a foot long, also bore a striking resemblance to the modern horseshoe crab, per a study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

The anatomy of the apex predator featured a carapace that covered its head, spinous processes, and eight pairs of lateral flaps that covered its trunk. The mouth was cone-shaped with curved, hooked spines around the entire orifice leading the study authors to believe that C. falcatus fed by sifting through sediment in the ocean.

[C19fan]

Large creature for the Cambrian period.

[Dilbert San Diego]

Interesting inspiration for naming.

This reminds me that a soecies of rabbit was named after Hugh Hefner, inspired apparently by the Playboy bunnies.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks C19fan. Did they find it in the Baltic? /jk

[FroggyTheGremlim]

Anthropod?

[null and void]