Fossils of a new group of predatory animals have been discovered in the Lower Cambrian Sirius Passet fossil locality in northern Greenland.
This enormous worm may have been one of the first carnivorous animals to inhabit the water column more than 518 million years ago, revealing a past dynasty of predators previously unknown to scientists.
This newly discovered animal fossil has been named Timorebestia, which means “animal of terror” in Latin.
Adorned with fins on the sides of the body, a distinct head with long antennae, a large jaw inside the mouth and a length of over 30 cm, it was one of the largest swimming animals of the early Cambrian period.
As reported by Scienceblog, Dr Jakob Vinther of the School of Earth Sciences and Biological Sciences at the University of Bristol, senior author of the study, said that primitive arthropods were recognized as dominant predators during the Cambrian period, such as anomalocaridids.
However, he claimed that the Fearbeast was a distant but close relative of the living arrow worms, or chaetognaths, which at that time were much smaller marine predators and fed on small zooplankton.
He further explained that research shows that ancient marine ecosystems were quite complex, with food chains that supported different levels of predators.
The Fearbeast may have been at the top of the food chain, as important as some of the major carnivores of the modern ocean, such as sharks and seals in the Cambrian period.
Researchers discovered the remains of a swimming arthropod called Isoxys inside the fossilized digestive system of Timorebeast.
Morten Lunde Nielsen, a former PhD student at Bristol and part of the research, said arthropods are common in Sirius Passet and have long protective spines, but are preyed upon in large numbers by Fearbeast.
The study also highlights that arrowworms and the more primitive Fearbeasts were swimming predators, which probably dominated the oceans before arthropods took over, and survived for about 10-15 million years before other groups replaced them.
Luke Parry of the University of Oxford, who took part in the research, highlighted the importance of the Fearbeast in understanding the origins of jawed predators.
It shows the similarities and differences between today’s arrow worms and the Fearbeast and points out that these fossils provide a link between seemingly disparate modern organisms.
Senior author Tae Yoon Park of the Korea Polar Research Institute expressed his excitement over the discoveries made on Sirius Passet.
2024-01-04 23:29:00
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