Buccaspinea
| Buccaspinea Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| Holotype specimen | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Stem group: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | †Dinocaridida |
| Order: | †Radiodonta |
| Family: | †Hurdiidae |
| Genus: | †Buccaspinea Pates et al, 2021 |
| Species: | †B. cooperi
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Buccaspinea cooperi Pates et al, 2021
| |
Buccaspinea is an extinct genus of Cambrian hurdiid radiodont from the Marjum Formation, known from frontal appendages and a nearly complete, albeit headless, specimen with a preserved oral cone.[1] Buccaspinea was described in January 2021.
Etymology
Buccaspinea means "thorn mouth", referring to the large hooked spines on its oral cone. The specific name, cooperi honours Jason Cooper, the discoverer of the specimen.[1]
Description
Buccaspinea is roughly 10 cm (4 in) long and has large, long-spined appendages seemingly used for capturing benthic prey, as they are not branched for sifting sediment or filter-feeding. Buccaspinea appears to be closely related to Hurdia and Peytoia, sharing many characters with them, for example a lack of inner teeth, weak posterior tapering and many flap-bearing segments. Unusually, it does not seem to have dorsal flaps, a trait unique to it and a few other hurdiids, such as Cambroraster.[2]
Gallery
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A reconstruction of the hurdiid radiodont Buccaspinea cooperi.
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Diagram of the oral cone of Buccaspinea cooperi.
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Diagram of the frontal appendage of Buccaspinea cooperi.
References
- ^ a b Pates, Stephen; Lerosey-Aubril, Rudy; Daley, Allison C.; Kier, Carlo; Bonino, Enrico; Ortega-Hernández, Javier (19 January 2021). "The diverse radiodont fauna from the Marjum Formation of Utah, USA (Cambrian: Drumian)". PeerJ. 9 e10509. doi:10.7717/peerj.10509. PMC 7821760. PMID 33552709.
- ^ Moysiuk, Joe; Jean-Bernard, Caron (31 July 2019). "A new hurdiid radiodont from the Burgess Shale evinces the exploitation of Cambrian infaunal food sources". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 286 (1908). doi:10.1098/rspb.2019.1079. PMC 6710600. PMID 31362637.