Earth's first giant predators produced killer babies

Earth's first giant predators produced killer babies

6 years ago
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https://phys.org/news/2018-06-earth-giant-predators-killer-babies.html

The "creepy crawly" animal group known as the Arthropoda, which includes spiders, insects and crustaceans, has been the inspiration for many science fiction monsters, largely due to their scary-looking appendages. Some of the oldest and most primitive arthropod species belong to a group called the Radiodonta ("radiating teeth"), which were armed with large, spiny raptorial (or grasping) appendages at the front of the head and a circular mouth adorned with tooth-like serrations. These animals, including the famous Anomalocaris, are considered the giant apex predators of their time, reaching lengths of over one metre.

Until now, virtually nothing was known about the juveniles of radiodontans and their feeding habits. The discovery of an exceptionally preserved juvenile of a species called Lyrarapax unguispinus from the early Cambrian (518 million-year-old) Chengjiang biota of China has shed new light on this iconic group of fossil arthropods.