Orstenotubulus
| Orstenotubulus Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| Reconstruction of Orstenotubulus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Clade: | Panarthropoda |
| Phylum: | †Lobopodia |
| Genus: | †Orstenotubulus |
| Species: | †O. evamuellerae
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Orstenotubulus evamuellerae Maas et al 2007 [1]
| |
Orstenotubulus is a genus of minute lobopodian known from three-dimensionally preserved remains found in the Upper Cambrian (Furongian) Orsten deposits of southern Sweden.[1][2]
Morphology
Orstenotubulus was tiny, estimated to only be 4–5 millimetres (5⁄32–3⁄16 in) long, with elongated, thin body about 0.12–0.205 millimetres (1⁄200–1⁄125 in) wide with pairs of upward-pointing spines running down the entire top of the body. Each pair of spines was associated with a pair of relatively elongate legs, with the whole body suggested to have 9-10 spine-leg pairs. The body was weakly annulated. It had tiny retractable spines ventral to the leg surface.[1]
Ecology
Orstenotubulus is thought to have lived by walking on the seafloor, with its spines likely serving to protect it against predators.[1]
Taxonomy
A 2015 study found that it was within the "hallucishaniid" grouping of lobopodians, related to lobopodians like the also spined Hallucigenia and Collinsovermis.[3]
References
- ^ a b c d Maas, A.; Mayer, G.; Kristensen, R. M.; Waloszek, D. (2007). "A Cambrian micro-lobopodian and the evolution of arthropod locomotion and reproduction". Chinese Science Bulletin. 52 (24): 3385. Bibcode:2007ChSBu..52.3385M. doi:10.1007/s11434-007-0515-3. S2CID 83993887.
- ^ Maas A, Waloszek D. 2001. Cambrian derivatives of the early arthropod stem lineage, pentastomids, tardigrades and lobopodians – an ‘Orsten’ perspective. Zoologischer Anzeiger 240: 451–459.
- ^ Smith, Martin R.; Caron, Jean-Bernard (July 2015). "Hallucigenia's head and the pharyngeal armature of early ecdysozoans". Nature. 523 (7558): 75–78. doi:10.1038/nature14573. ISSN 0028-0836.