Tokummia

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Tokummia
Temporal range: Wuliuan
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Tokummia.png
Life restoration
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Order: Hymenocarina
Family: Protocarididae
Genus: Tokummia
Species:
T. katalepsis
Binomial name
Tokummia katalepsis
Aria & Caron, 2017

Tokummia is a genus of fossil hymenocarine arthropod, known only by one species, Tokummiakatalepsis, from the middle Cambrian (508 million years old) Burgess Shale as found in a quarry in Marble Canyon in Canada. [1]

Contents

Etymology

The genus name Tokummia named after Tokumm Creek which runs through the Marble Canyon where it was found. The species name katalepsis is a Greek word for "seizing", "gasping" or "holding". [1]

Morphology

Tokummia has a cylindrical body, with the anterior half covered by a 8.78 cm (3.46 in) long bivalved carapace. At the front of the animal, there are a pair of antennae, possible eyes, mouthparts (mandibles, maxillule and maxilla) and prominent pincer-like maxillipeds. These shows the oldest record of arthropod pincers. Posterior to the maxillipeds are 50 leg-bearing trunk segments. Each of its biramous leg has 5-segmented basipods, followed by an exopod (flap-like outer branch) and 7-segmented endopod (leg-like inner branch). The anterior 10 leg pairs have basipodal endites (inner spines) while the remaining leg pairs have widen exopods. The trunk terminated with a pair of caudal rami. [1]

Paleobiology

Tokummia is suggested to be a bottom feeder, being able to walk on the sea floor, and to occasionally swim, and used its pincers to catch prey. [2]

Taxonomy

According to the original description of Tokummia, hymenocarines like Tokummia, Branchiocaris , Canadaspis and Odaraia are stem group Mandibulata, the group includes myriapods, hexapods and crustaceans, [1] and this theory is supported in multiple subsequent studies. [3] [4] [5] [6]

Related Research Articles

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<i>Branchiocaris</i> Genus of crustaceans

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marble Canyon (Canadian Rockies)</span> Valley in British Columbia, Canada

Marble Canyon surrounds Tokumm Creek just above its confluence with the Vermilion River, at the north end of Kootenay National Park in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia. South of the canyon on Highway 93 is Numa Falls on the Vermilion River.

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<i>Balhuticaris</i> Extinct genus of arthropods

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Aria, Cédric; Caron, Jean-Bernard (26 April 2017). "Burgess Shale fossils illustrate the origin of the mandibulate body plan". Nature. 545 (7652): 89–92. Bibcode:2017Natur.545...89A. doi:10.1038/nature22080. PMID   28445464. S2CID   4454526.
  2. "Ouch! U of T paleontologists identify 508-million-year-old sea creature with can opener-like pincers". University of Toronto News.
  3. Aria, Cédric; Caron, Jean-Bernard (2017-12-21). "Mandibulate convergence in an armoured Cambrian stem chelicerate". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 17 (1): 261. Bibcode:2017BMCEE..17..261A. doi: 10.1186/s12862-017-1088-7 . ISSN   1471-2148. PMC   5738823 . PMID   29262772.
  4. Zeng, Han; Zhao, Fangchen; Niu, Kecheng; Zhu, Maoyan; Huang, Diying (2020). "An early Cambrian euarthropod with radiodont-like raptorial appendages". Nature. 588 (7836): 101–105. Bibcode:2020Natur.588..101Z. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2883-7. ISSN   1476-4687. PMID   33149303. S2CID   226248177.
  5. Aria, Cédric; Zhao, Fangchen; Zhu, Maoyan (2021-03-22). "Fuxianhuiids are mandibulates and share affinities with total-group Myriapoda". Journal of the Geological Society. 178 (5). Bibcode:2021JGSoc.178..246A. doi:10.1144/jgs2020-246. ISSN   0016-7649. S2CID   233952670.
  6. Izquierdo‐López, Alejandro; Caron, Jean‐Bernard (2021). Zhang, Xi‐Guang (ed.). "A Burgess Shale mandibulate arthropod with a pygidium: a case of convergent evolution". Papers in Palaeontology. 7 (4): 1877–1894. Bibcode:2021PPal....7.1877I. doi:10.1002/spp2.1366. ISSN   2056-2799. S2CID   236284813.