Scientists discovered the fossils of an alien-like spiked sea creature that lived more than 500 million years ago in Canada.
The creature, named a lobopodian, was among 10,000 fossils found in the Tulip Beds at Yoho National Park in 1983 – but had remained unidentified until now.
The creature had a long body and short legs with spikes protruding outward from its back, while appendages similar to feathers grew from the front of its body.
Researchers still don’t know how these sea creatures evolved over the millennia, but speculated that as the amount of oxygen on the planet’s surface increased, the creatures were forced to grow and evolve to survive.
The creatures, called a lobopodian, had a long body and short legs with spikes protruding outward from its back while appendages similar to feathers grew from the front of its body
The creature, named a lobopodian, was among 10,000 fossils found in the Tulip Beds at Yoho National Park in 1983 but had remained unidentified until now
Researchers at the Royal Ontario Museum have so far identified 50 new species since they discovered the sea creature graveyard, one of which was shaped like a tulip, giving the site its name in 2012.
Now, more than four decades since scientists stumbled onto the fossils, they reported that the lobopodian, also named entothyreos synnaustrus, measured about two inches long and had 11 lobopods, or appendages.
The study, published in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, reported that half of the creature’s lobopods were ‘long and slender,’ and the rest were ‘stouter’ and cone-shaped.
Their long appendages were covered in ‘very short spines’ and had two rows of ‘very long’ and ‘curved chevron-shaped, claw-like spines,’ the study shared.
Lobopodian’s fossils revealed that different sections of its body was intended to perform different functions similar to arthopods – an invertebrate animal like an insect, spider or crustacean.
Researchers reported that the creature’s back limbs likely served to protect it – the long appendages might have worked to erect the lobopodian’s body.
It also likely provided suspension-feeding, which is when an animal captures and ingests food particles that are suspended in water including phytoplankton, zooplankton and bacteria.
This creature could have evolved as part of the Cambrian explosion that occurred during the Paleozoic era about 530 million years ago.
The era saw a large increase in the amount of habitable space on the sea floor that lasted between 13 and 25 years, allowing sea animals to thrive and driving the rise in animal diversity.
‘The Cambrian explosion is one of the most important events in the history of life on our planet, establishing animals as the most visible part of the planet’s marine ecosystems,’ Professor Harper, a professor of palaeontology at Durham University, said in 2013.
Researchers first discovered the fossil site (pictured) in 1983 and have since identified more than 50 new species
The lobopodian, also named entothyreos synnaustrus, measured about two inches long and had 11 lobopods, or appendages.
‘It would be naïve to think that any one cause ignited this phenomenal explosion of animal life.
‘Rather, a chain reaction involving a number of biological and geological drivers kicked into gear, escalating the planet’s diversity during a relatively short interval of deep time.
‘The Cambrian explosion set the scene for much of the subsequent marine life that built on cascading and nested feedback loops, linking the organisms and their environment, that first developed some 520 million years ago.’
What caused the Cambrian explosion is still unknown, but some researchers have said that the rising oxygen levels allowed larger, more complex animals – like the lobopodian – to form.
After the explosion, the animals started to develop vision, legs and predator-prey relationships started to evolve because of increased competition.
‘It’s when most of the few dozen major animal body plans first appear in the fossil record and diversify,’ Dr Greg Edgecombe, Merit Researcher at the Natural History Museum, London, said.
‘But it is actually more than that…. It is a time of body plan innovation and of diversification, but it is also an ecological phenomenon as life responded to changing environmental conditions.’
