''Habelia'' is a

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 ...

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

arthropod Arthropods ( ) are invertebrates in the phylum Arthropoda. They possess an arthropod exoskeleton, exoskeleton with a cuticle made of chitin, often Mineralization (biology), mineralised with calcium carbonate, a body with differentiated (Metam ...

from the

Middle Cambrian Middle or The Middle may refer to: * Centre (geometry), the point equally distant from the outer limits. Places * Middle (sheading), a subdivision of the Isle of Man * Middle Bay (disambiguation) * Middle Brook (disambiguation) * Middle Creek (di ...

, thought to be one of the earliest known relatives of

chelicerates The subphylum Chelicerata (from Neo-Latin, , ) constitutes one of the major subdivisions of the phylum Arthropoda. Chelicerates include the sea spiders, horseshoe crabs, and arachnids (including harvestmen, scorpions, spiders, solifuges, tic ...

. Its

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

s have been 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 ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Fifty-four specimens of ''Habelia'' are known from the Greater

Phyllopod bed The Phyllopod bed, designated by USNM locality number 35k, is the most famous fossil-bearing member of the Burgess Shale fossil ''Lagerstätte''. It was quarried by Charles Walcott from 1911–1917 (and later named Walcott Quarry), and was ...

, where they comprise 0.1% of the community.

Description

The body is divided into two main segments. The

cephalon Cephalon, Inc. was an American biopharmaceutical company co-founded in 1987 by pharmacologist Frank Baldino Jr., Frank Baldino, Jr., neuroscientist Michael Lewis, and organic chemist James C. Kauer—all three former scientists with the DuPont ...

("head")/prosoma with seven segments/8 somites, and the trunk with 12 segments, making for a total of 19 body segments. The body is around in length excluding the long

telson The telson () is the hindmost division of the body of an arthropod. Depending on the definition, the telson is either considered to be the final segment (biology), segment of the arthropod body, or an additional division that is not a true segm ...

that terminates the body. The head, which is 25% wider than it is long, makes up about 30% of the total body length, and has a bulging shape, with triangular genal spines projecting outward at its edges. It housed the stomach of the animal. The head bore a pair of spherical compound eyes, which were accommodated by notches in the head shield. A hypostome- labrum complex was present, with the mouth openling vertically close to the front of the head. The first pair of appendages was very short and probably flexible, this was followed by 5 pairs of appendages that bore large gnathobases (modified basipod/base of the appendages used to process food), increasing in size posteriorly which bore staggered rows of strongly sclerotized teeth on their inner edge. The limbs were

biramous The arthropod leg is a form of jointed appendage of arthropods, usually used for walking. Many of the terms used for arthropod leg segments (called podomeres) are of Latin origin, and may be confused with terms for bones: ''coxa'' (meaning hip, ...

(divided into two branches), The

endopod The arthropod leg is a form of jointed appendage of arthropods, usually used for walking. Many of the terms used for arthropod leg segments (called podomeres) are of Latin origin, and may be confused with terms for bones: ''coxa'' (meaning hip, : ...

s (lower branch) of these limbs increased in size posteriorly, and had seven segments/podomeres, with the terminating segment being a claw, with podomeres 5 and 6 having borne a brush of inward facing

seta In biology, setae (; seta ; ) are any of a number of different bristle- or hair-like structures on living organisms. Animal setae Protostomes Depending partly on their form and function, protostome setae may be called macrotrichia, chaetae, ...

e (hair-like structures). The

exopod The arthropod leg is a form of jointed appendage of arthropods, usually used for walking. Many of the terms used for arthropod leg segments (called podomeres) are of Latin origin, and may be confused with terms for bones: ''coxa'' (meaning hip (a ...

s (upper branch) of these limbs were elongate and thin rami, increasing in size posteriorly, each composed of 7 or more podomeres, which bore setae at the segment joints. There is one pair of

limbs on the margin between the head and trunk, which is morphologically similar to the trunk limbs. The exopods of the biramous trunk limbs are paddle-shaped and fringed with thin lamellae/setae, while the endopods are similar to those of the cephalon/head in being 7 segmented and clawed, with two smaller claws on segment 6. The basipods of these limbs were cylindrical and broad, and did not function as gnathobases. The trunk is subdivided into the anterior thorax with 5 segments and the posterior post-thorax with 7 segments. Some specimens bear three pairs of upward pointing dorsal spines along the first three trunk segments. This may have been a

sexually dimorphic Sexual dimorphism is the condition where sexes of the same species exhibit different Morphology (biology), morphological characteristics, including characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most dioecy, di ...

feature. The 5 segments of the thorax each bear biramous limbs. The segments of the post-thorax bore pairs of exopods decreasing in size posteriorly, but there are no visible endopods, meaning that they were either reduced or entirely absent. The body ended with a long rod-shaped telson.

Taxonomy

While previously enigmatic, a 2017 redescription found that it formed a clade ( Habeliida) with '' Sanctacaris, Utahcaris, Wisangocaris'' and '' Messorocaris'' as a

stem-group In phylogenetics, the crown group or crown assemblage is a collection of species composed of the living representatives of the collection, the most recent common ancestor of the collection, and all descendants of the most recent common ancestor. ...

Chelicerata The subphylum Chelicerata (from Neo-Latin, , ) constitutes one of the major subdivisions of the phylum Arthropoda. Chelicerates include the sea spiders, horseshoe crabs, and arachnids (including harvestmen, scorpions, spiders, solifuges, tic ...

, with ''Habelia'' being placed in the monotypic family Habellidae within Habeliida.

Ecology

''Habelia'' is thought to have been a

durophagous Durophagy is the eating behavior of animals that consume hard-shelled or exoskeleton-bearing organisms, such as corals, shelled mollusks, or crabs. It is mostly used to describe fish, but is also used when describing reptiles, including fossil t ...

predator, using its gnathobases to feed on hard shelled organisms.

References

External links

* *
''Habelia''
in the

Paleobiology Database The Paleobiology Database (PBDB) is an online resource for information on the distribution and classification of fossil animals, plants, and microorganisms. History The Paleobiology Database originated in the NCEAS-funded Phanerozoic Marine Pale ...

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3017216 Prehistoric arthropod genera Burgess Shale fossils Cambrian arthropods Cambrian arthropods of North America Cambrian genus extinctions Fossil taxa described in 1912

Description

Taxonomy

Ecology

See also

References

Further reading

External links