Aegirocassis

Aegirocassis
Temporal range: Late Tremadocian, 480 Ma
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Fossil holotype
Reconstruction of Aegirocassis benmoulai
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Order: †Radiodonta
Family: †Hurdiidae
Subfamily: †Aegirocassisinae
Genus: †Aegirocassis
Species:
†A. benmoulai
Binomial name
†Aegirocassis benmoulai
Van Roy, Daley, & Briggs, 2015[1] (nom. corr. Van Roy et al. in press[2])

Aegirocassis is an extinct genus of giant radiodont arthropod belonging to the family Hurdiidae that lived 480 million years ago during the early Ordovician in the Fezouata Formation of Morocco. It is known by a single species, Aegirocassis benmoulai.[1][note 1] Van Roy initiated scientific study of the fossil, the earliest known of a "giant" filter-feeder discovered to date.[1] Aegirocassis is considered to have evolved from early predatory radiodonts.[3] This animal is characterized by its long, forward facing head sclerite, and the endites on its frontal appendages that bore copious amounts of baleen-like auxiliary spines.[1] This animal evolving filter-feeding traits was most likely a result of the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event, when environmental changes caused a diversification of plankton, which in turn allowed for the evolution of new suspension feeding lifeforms.[4][5] Alongside the closely related Pseudoangustidontus,[6] an unnamed hurdiid from Wales,[7] the middle Ordovician dinocaridid Mieridduryn,[8] and the Devonian hurdiid Schinderhannes this radiodont is one of the few dinocaridids known from post-Cambrian rocks.[9]

  1. ^ a b c d Van Roy, Peter; Daley, Allison C.; Briggs, Derek E. G. (2015). "Anomalocaridid trunk limb homology revealed by a giant filter-feeder with paired flaps". Nature. 522 (7554): 77–80. doi:10.1038/nature14256. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 25762145. S2CID 205242881.
  2. ^ a b Van Roy, Peter; Briggs, Derek E. G.; Gaines, Robert R. (2015). "The Fezouata fossils of Morocco; an extraordinary record of marine life in the Early Ordovician". Journal of the Geological Society. 172 (5): 2015–017. doi:10.1144/jgs2015-017. hdl:1854/LU-8714212. ISSN 0016-7649. S2CID 129319753.
  3. ^ Van Roy, Peter (12 March 2015). "Fossils of huge plankton-eating sea creature shine light on early arthropod evolution". The Conversation. Archived from the original on 2023-10-11. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
  4. ^ Servais, T.; Owen, A. W.; Harper, D. A. T.; Kröger, B. R.; Munnecke, A. (2010). "The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (GOBE): the palaeoecological dimension". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 294 (3–4): 99–119. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.05.031.
  5. ^ Stigall, A.L; et al. (December 2016). "Biotic immigration events, speciation, and the accumulation of biodiversity in the fossil record". Global and Planetary Change. 148: 242–257. Bibcode:2017GPC...148..242S. doi:10.1016/j.gloplacha.2016.12.008.
  6. ^ Potin, G. J.-M.; Gueriau, P.; Daley, A. C. (2023). "Radiodont frontal appendages from the Fezouata Biota (Morocco) reveal high diversity and ecological adaptations to suspension-feeding during the Early Ordovician". Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 11. 1214109. doi:10.3389/fevo.2023.1214109.
  7. ^ Pates, Stephen; Botting, Joseph P.; McCobb, Lucy M. E.; Muir, Lucy A. (2020). "A miniature Ordovician hurdiid from Wales demonstrates the adaptability of Radiodonta". Royal Society Open Science. 7 (6): 200459. Bibcode:2020RSOS....700459P. doi:10.1098/rsos.200459. PMC 7353989. PMID 32742697.
  8. ^ Pates, S.; Botting, J. P.; Muir, L. A.; Wolfe, J. M. (2022). "Ordovician opabiniid-like animals and the role of the proboscis in euarthropod head evolution". Nature Communications. 13 (1). 6969. doi:10.1038/s41467-022-34204-w. PMC 9666559. PMID 36379946.
  9. ^ Gabriele Kühl; Derek E. G. Briggs & Jes Rust (2009). "A great-appendage arthropod with a radial mouth from the Lower Devonian Hunsrück Slate, Germany". Science. 323 (5915): 771–773. Bibcode:2009Sci...323..771K. doi:10.1126/science.1166586. PMID 19197061. S2CID 47555807.


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