{"id":43049,"date":"2024-10-29T16:01:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-29T15:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/30a2bd30-a976-4718-817f-9094415e3b56"},"modified":"2024-10-29T17:27:30","modified_gmt":"2024-10-29T16:27:30","slug":"they-look-as-if-they-could-just-get-up-and-scuttle-away-glittering-fossils-preserved-in-gold-reveal-exciting-new-evolutionary-clues","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/they-look-as-if-they-could-just-get-up-and-scuttle-away-glittering-fossils-preserved-in-gold-reveal-exciting-new-evolutionary-clues\/","title":{"rendered":"They look as if they could just get up and scuttle away\u2026”\u00a0Glittering fossils preserved in gold reveal exciting new evolutionary clues"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new species of arthropod, distantly related to spiders and scorpions, has been discovered fossilised in fool\u2019s gold in New York <\/p>

By <\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 29 October 2024 at 15:01 PM<\/p>

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A 450-million-year-old fossil arthropod, preserved in iron pyrite (fool\u2019s gold), has been unveiled by scientists.<\/strong><\/p>

The new species\u00a0Lomankus edgecombei<\/em>\u00a0is distantly related to spiders\u00a0and\u00a0scorpions and belongs to a group of arthropods called megacheirans, which had a large\u00a0modified leg at the front of their bodies to capture prey.\u00a0Megacheirans like\u00a0Lomankus<\/em>\u00a0were very diverse during the Cambrian Period (538-485 million years ago) but were thought to be largely extinct by the Ordovician Period (485-443 million years ago).<\/p>

Researchers led by Oxford Associate Professor Luke Parry\u00a0believe this to be an important discovery because it offers\u00a0new clues towards solving the riddle of how arthropods evolved the appendages on their heads.<\/p>

These appendages are one or more pairs of legs at the front of their bodies, modified for sensing the environment and capturing prey. Such appendages include the antennae of insects and crustaceans, and the pincers and fangs of spiders<\/a> and scorpions<\/a>.<\/p>

\u201cToday, there are more species of arthropod than any other group of animals on Earth. Part of the key to this success is their highly adaptable head and its appendages,\u00a0which have\u00a0adapted to various challenges like a biological Swiss army knife,\u201d\u00a0Professor Parry said.<\/p>

An early form of antennae<\/h3>

While other megacheirans used their large first appendage for capturing prey, in\u00a0Lomankus<\/em>\u00a0the typical claws are much reduced, with three long and flexible whip-like flagella at their end. This suggests that\u00a0Lomankus<\/em>\u00a0was using this frontal appendage to sense the environment, rather than to capture prey.<\/p>

According to the research team, this indicates it lived a very different lifestyle to its more ancient relatives in the Cambrian Period. Unlike other megacheirans,\u00a0Lomankus<\/em>\u00a0seems to lack eyes, suggesting that it relied on its frontal appendage to sense and search for food in the dark, low-oxygen environment in which it lived.<\/p>

The fossil<\/a> also offers new clues towards solving the highly-debated question of what the equivalent of the appendage of megacheirans is in living species. According to the study, published in the journal\u00a0Current Biology<\/em>,\u00a0the\u00a0arrangement of features on the head\u00a0of\u00a0Lomankus<\/em>is similar to the antenna of insects and the mouth parts of spiders and scorpions.<\/p>

Preserved in gold<\/strong><\/h3>

The\u00a0golden\u00a0fossil\u00a0was\u00a0discovered at a site in New York State containing the famous\u00a0\u2018Beecher\u2019s Trilobite Bed\u2019; a layer of rock\u00a0with\u00a0multiple preserved trilobites.<\/p>

The animals preserved in\u00a0this layer\u00a0lived in a low oxygen environment that allowed pyrite, commonly known as fool\u2019s gold, to replace parts of their bodies after they were buried in sediment, resulting in spectacular golden 3D fossils.<\/p>

Professor Derek Briggs, a co-author of the study at Yale University said:\u00a0\u201cThese remarkable fossils show how rapid replacement of delicate anatomical features in pyrite before they decay, which is a signature feature of Beecher\u2019s Trilobite Bed, preserves critical evidence of the evolution<\/a> of life in the oceans 450 million years ago.\u201d<\/p>

Professor Parry\u00a0added,\u00a0\u201cAs well as having their beautiful and striking golden colour, these fossils are spectacularly preserved. They look as if they could just get up and scuttle away.\u201d<\/p>