Rehbachiella

Last updated

Rehbachiella
Temporal range: Upper Cambrian
Rehbachiella.png
Life restoration
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Clade: Pancrustacea
Superclass: Allotriocarida
Class: Branchiopoda
Genus: Rehbachiella
Müller, 1983
Species:
R. kinnekullensis
Binomial name
Rehbachiella kinnekullensis
Müller, 1983

Rehbachiella is a genus of Cambrian crustacean comprising the only species Rehbachiella kinnekullensis. It is possibly a branchiopod from the Orsten of Sweden.

Contents

Description

Rehbachiella is roughly 1.7 mm long, with three pairs of cephalic appendages with curved spines pointing towards the mouth and eight to nine pairs of postmandibular appendages roughly identical to each other except for size and exopod length, together forming a filter apparatus. [1] Unusually, Rehbachiella had over 30 larval stages and the most developed specimens found are still seemingly immature. Its thin carapace covers all limb-bearing segments, however there are five limbless segments extending past it, the most posterior bearing a furca alongside two protrusions that resemble undeveloped appendages. Rehbachiella has two compound eyes similar to its larval stages, as well as a large labrum. As many of its traits resemble those of Branchiopoda, it is tentatively placed as a stem-group branchiopod and may be a member of stem-Anostraca alongside Lepidocaris . [2]

Etymology

Rehbachiella is named in honour of Mrs. Helga Rehbach-Lenz, who helped with the most difficult preparation. Its specific name kinnekullensis comes from the fact the original fossils were found at Kinnekulle. [1]

Distribution

Rehbachiella is known from over 130 specimens of varying growth stages, most from Kinnekulle.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Branchiopoda</span> Class of crustaceans

Branchiopoda is a class of crustaceans. It comprises fairy shrimp, clam shrimp, Diplostraca, Notostraca, the Devonian Lepidocaris and possibly the Cambrian Rehbachiella. They are mostly small, freshwater animals that feed on plankton and detritus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lobopodia</span> Group of extinct worm-like animals with legs

Lobopodians are members of the informal group Lobopodia, or the formally erected phylum Lobopoda Cavalier-Smith (1998). They are panarthropods with stubby legs called lobopods, a term which may also be used as a common name of this group as well. While the definition of lobopodians may differ between literatures, it usually refers to a group of soft-bodied, marine worm-like fossil panarthropods such as Aysheaia and Hallucigenia.

<i>Opabinia</i> Extinct stem-arthropod species found in Cambrian fossil deposits

Opabinia regalis is an extinct, stem group arthropod found in the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale Lagerstätte of British Columbia. Opabinia was a soft-bodied animal, measuring up to 7 cm in body length, and its segmented trunk had flaps along the sides and a fan-shaped tail. The head shows unusual features: five eyes, a mouth under the head and facing backwards, and a clawed proboscis that probably passed food to the mouth. Opabinia probably lived on the seafloor, using the proboscis to seek out small, soft food. Fewer than twenty good specimens have been described; 3 specimens of Opabinia are known from the Greater Phyllopod bed, where they constitute less than 0.1% of the community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anostraca</span> Order of crustaceans

Anostraca is one of the four orders of crustaceans in the class Branchiopoda; its members are referred to as fairy shrimp. They live in vernal pools and hypersaline lakes across the world, and they have even been found in deserts, ice-covered mountain lakes, and Antarctic ice. They are usually 6–25 mm (0.24–0.98 in) long. Most species have 20 body segments, bearing 11 pairs of leaf-like phyllopodia, and the body lacks a carapace. They swim "upside-down" and feed by filtering organic particles from the water or by scraping algae from surfaces, with the exception of Branchinecta gigas, or "giant fairy shrimp", which is itself a predator of other species of anostracans. They are an important food for many birds and fish, and some are cultured and harvested for use as fish food. There are 300 species spread across 8 families.

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

Naraoia is a genus of small to average size marine arthropods within the family Naraoiidae, that lived from the early Cambrian to the late Silurian period. The species are characterized by a large alimentary system and sideways oriented antennas.

<i>Schinderhannes bartelsi</i> Extinct species of radiodont

Schinderhannes bartelsi is a species of hurdiid radiodont (anomalocaridid) known from one specimen from the lower Devonian Hunsrück Slates. Its discovery was astonishing because previously, radiodonts were known only from exceptionally well-preserved fossil beds (Lagerstätten) from the Cambrian, 100 million years earlier.

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

Haikoucaris is a genus of megacheiran arthropod that contains the single species Haikoucaris ercaiensis. It was discovered in the Cambrian Chengjiang biota of China.

<i>Isoxys</i> Genus of extinct arthropods

Isoxys is a genus of extinct bivalved Cambrian arthropod; the various species of which are thought to have been freely swimming predators. It had a pair of large spherical eyes, and two large frontal appendages used to grasp prey.

<i>Lepidocaris</i> Extinct genus of crustaceans

Lepidocaris rhyniensis is an extinct species of crustacean. It is the only species known from the order Lipostraca, and is the only abundant animal in the Pragian-aged Rhynie chert deposits. It resembles modern Anostraca, to which it is probably closely related, although its relationships to other orders remain unclear. The body is 3 mm (0.12 in) long, with 23 body segments and 19 pairs of appendages, but no carapace. It occurred chiefly among charophytes, probably in alkaline temporary pools.

<i>Kylinxia</i> Genus of fossil arthropod

Kylinxia is a genus of extinct arthropod described in 2020. It was described from six specimens discovered in Yu'anshan Formation in southern China. The specimens are assigned to one species Kylinxia zhangi. Dated to 518 million years, the fossils falls under the Cambrian period. Announcing the discovery on 4 November 2020 at a press conference, Zeng Han of the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, said that the animal "bridges the evolutionary gap from Anomalocaris to true arthropods and forms a key ‘missing link’ in the origin of arthropods," which was "predicted by Darwin’s evolutionary theory." The same day the formal description was published in Nature.

<i>Cambropachycope</i> Extinct Cambrian arthropod

Cambropachycope is a genus of small extinct Cambrian arthropods, known from the Orsten lagerstätten in southern Sweden. It appears to have several apomorphic features, notably including a single large compound eye.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phosphatocopina</span> Extinct group of bivalved arthropods

Phosphatocopina is an extinct group of bivalved arthropods known from the Cambrian period. They are generally sub-milimetric to a few millimetres in size. They are typically only known from isolated carapaces, but some found in Orsten-type phosphatized preservation have their bodies preserved in high fidelity in three dimensions.

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

Oelandocaris is an extinct genus of stem-mandibulate, or possibly a megacheiran, within the monotypic family Oelandocarididae.

<i>Goticaris</i> Extinct Cambrian arthropod

Goticaris is a genus of small extinct Cambrian arthropods, known from the Orsten lagerstätten in southern Sweden. It appears to have several apomorphic features, notably including a single large compound eye.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cambropachycopidae</span> Extinct family of Cambrian arthropods

Cambropachycopidae is a family of Cambrian pancrustaceans from the Orsten of Sweden, united by their singular, large compound eye and heavily enlarged cephalic segment. Both species were roughly a milimeter long with similar body structures, however Goticaris is distinguished by two stalked blisters near its eye, as well as a longer body and smaller eye than Cambropachycope.

Musacaris is an extinct genus of Cambrian arthropod from the Orsten Lagerstätte, formerly synonymous with Martinssonia. It contains only a single species, Musacaris gerdgeyeri.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allotriocarida</span> Superclass of arthropods

Allotriocarida is a clade of Pancrustacea, containing Hexapoda. It also contains three non-hexapod classes: Remipedia, Cephalocarida, and Branchiopoda.

<i>Cambrocaris</i> Extinct genus of crustacean

Cambrocaris baltica is an Upper Cambrian crustacean from Poland.

<i>Bredocaris</i> Cambrian genus of crustacean

Bredocaris admirabilis is a genus of pancrustacean from the Cambrian Orsten.

Dala peilertae is an extinct genus of pancrustacean from the Cambrian Orsten.

References

  1. 1 2 Müller, Klaus J. (1983). "Crustacea with preserved soft parts from the Upper Cambrian of Sweden". Lethaia. 16 (2): 93–109. doi:10.1111/j.1502-3931.1983.tb01704.x.
  2. Walossek, Dieter (December 1993). "The Upper Cambrian Rehbachiella and the phylogeny of Branchiopoda and Crustacea". Lethaia. 26 (4): 318. Bibcode:1993Letha..26....1W. doi:10.1111/j.1502-3931.1993.tb01537.x.