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''Cambroraster'' is an extinct monotypic
File:20200329 Cambroraster falcatus.png, Reconstruction
File:20210516 Radiodonta head sclerites Cambroraster falcatus.png, Head sclerites
File:20191229 Radiodonta frontal appendage Cambroraster falcatus.png, Frontal appendage
File:20210813 Cambroraster falcatus frontal appendage mobility.gif, Movement range of the frontal appendage
A second species of ''Cambroraster'' is known from the
''Cambroraster'' is an extinct monotypic genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
of hurdiid radiodont, dating to the middle Cambrian, and represented by the single formally described species ''Cambroraster falcatus''. Hundreds of specimens were found in the Burgess Shale
The Burgess Shale is a fossil-bearing deposit exposed in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, Canada. It is famous for the exceptional preservation of the soft parts of its fossils. At old (middle Cambrian), it is one of the earliest fos ...
, and described in 2019. A large animal (for its era) at up to (but not as long as '' Titanokorys'' at ), it is characterized by a significantly enlarged horseshoe-shaped dorsal carapace (H-element), and presumably fed by sifting through the sediment with its well-developed tooth plates ( oral cone) and short frontal appendages with hooked spines. Nicknamed the "spaceship" fossil when first found, for the way its dorsal carapace resembles the fictional Millennium Falcon, the specific epithet ''falcatus'' in its scientific name
In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...
is a nod to that resemblance.
Chengjiang Biota
The Maotianshan Shales () are a series of Early Cambrian sedimentary deposits in the Chiungchussu Formation or Heilinpu Formation, famous for their '' Konservat Lagerstätten'', deposits known for the exceptional preservation of fossilized orga ...
of South China, making it the first uncontroversial hurdiid from the Cambrian of China. This species is known only from a juvenile dorsal carapace, so it was not given a specific name.
Although originally suggested to have used its frontal appendages to sift sediment for prey, a later study by different authors suggested that it may have been a filter feeder
Filter feeders are aquatic animals that acquire nutrients by feeding on organic matters, food particles or smaller organisms (bacteria, microalgae and zooplanktons) suspended in water, typically by having the water pass over or through a s ...
instead.
See also
* Paleobiota of the Burgess Shale *List of Chengjiang Biota species by phylum
This is a list of fossils found at Maotianshan Shales, whose most famous assemblage of organisms are referred to as the Chengjiang biota.
The Maotianshan Shales are a series of Cambrian, Early Cambrian Shale, sedimentary deposits in the Chiungch ...
References
External links
{{Taxonbar, from=Q66108229 Cambrian arthropods Burgess Shale fossils Fossil taxa described in 2019 Cambrian genus extinctions Radiodonta