Biology:Orstenotubulus
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
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedmaas - ↑ 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" (in en). Nature 523 (7558): 75–78. doi:10.1038/nature14573. ISSN 0028-0836. https://www.nature.com/articles/nature14573.
Template:Lobopodia Wikidata ☰ Q15710931 entry
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