''Mollisonia'' is an extinct

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 ...

Cambrian The Cambrian ( ) is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 51.95 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran period 538.8 Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Ordov ...

marine

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 ...

. Four

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

have been described from

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. Studies suggest it is a basal member of

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 ...

, a group which includes

horseshoe crab Horseshoe crabs are arthropods of the family Limulidae and the only surviving xiphosurans. Despite their name, they are not true crabs or even crustaceans; they are chelicerates, more closely related to arachnids like spiders, ticks, and scor ...

s and

arachnid Arachnids are arthropods in the Class (biology), class Arachnida () of the subphylum Chelicerata. Arachnida includes, among others, spiders, scorpions, ticks, mites, pseudoscorpions, opiliones, harvestmen, Solifugae, camel spiders, Amblypygi, wh ...

Description

File:20191003 Mollisonia plenovenatrix side.png, Reconstruction of ''Mollisonia plenovenatrix'' in lateral wiew The genus is characterized by a capsule-like dorsal

exoskeleton An exoskeleton () . is a skeleton that is on the exterior of an animal in the form of hardened integument, which both supports the body's shape and protects the internal organs, in contrast to an internal endoskeleton (e.g. human skeleton, that ...

(

tergite A ''tergum'' (Latin for "the back"; : ''terga'', associated adjective tergal) is the Anatomical terms of location#Dorsal and ventral, dorsal ('upper') portion of an arthropod segment other than the head. The Anatomical terms of location#Anterior ...

s), which was divided into a subequal size of cephalon and

pygidium The pygidium (: pygidia) is the posterior body part or shield of crustaceans and some other arthropods, such as insects and the extinct trilobites. In groups other than insects, it contains the anus and, in females, the ovipositor. It is compos ...

with 7 thoracic segments in between. Below the cephalon was a pair of huge

compound eye A compound eye is a Eye, visual organ found in arthropods such as insects and crustaceans. It may consist of thousands of ommatidium, ommatidia, which are tiny independent photoreception units that consist of a cornea, lens (anatomy), lens, and p ...

s, followed by a series of walking legs and gnathobasic (jaw-like) limbs, each have 3 pairs in total. As a Cambrian arthropod, the genus is significant by bearing several traits of now-surviving chelicerates, such as pincer-like mouthparts (

chelicerae The chelicerae () are the arthropod mouthparts, mouthparts of the subphylum Chelicerata, an arthropod group that includes arachnids, horseshoe crabs, and sea spiders. Commonly referred to as "jaws", chelicerae may be shaped as either articulated ...

) and fused ring-like cephalic nerves (synganglion) within their head, as well as a series of multilayered

book gill A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, mo ...

s underneath their trunk appendages. ''Mollisonia'' may have been a

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning "the depths". ...

predator Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common List of feeding behaviours, feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation ...

, using its anterior chelicerae and posterior gnathobasic limbs to devour prey items while using the 6 legs to walk around the sea floor. The gill-bearing trunk appendages may have been solely for breathing. This functional differentiation (head/prosomal appendages for feeding and walking, trunk/opisthosomal appendages for breathing) is closer to euchelicerates (crown-group chelicerates other than

sea spider Sea spiders are marine arthropods of the class (biology), class Pycnogonida, hence they are also called pycnogonids (; named after ''Pycnogonum'', the type genus; with the suffix '). The class includes the only now-living order (biology), order P ...

s) than the basal chelicerate genera of

Habeliida Habeliida is an order of extinct arthropods that existed during the middle Cambrian. It is divided into two families, Habeliidae (monotypic, containing only ''Habelia''), and Sanctacarididae (containing '' Sanctacaris'', '' Utahcaris'' and '' Wis ...

(e.g. ''

Habelia ''Habelia'' is a genus of extinct arthropod from the Middle Cambrian, thought to be one of the earliest known relatives of chelicerates. Its fossils have been found in the Burgess Shale in British Columbia, Canada. Fifty-four specimens of ''Habel ...

'', ''

Sanctacaris ''Sanctacaris'' is a Middle Cambrian arthropod from the Burgess Shale of British Columbia. It was most famously regarded as a stem-group chelicerate, a group which includes horseshoe crabs, spiders and scorpions, although subsequent phylogenetic ...

'').

Distribution and taxonomy

Three species (''P. symmetrica'', ''P. gracilis'', ''P. plenovenatrix'') are known from 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 ...

, with 21 specimens 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 less than 0.1% of the community as of 2006. The genus is also known from

Langston Formation The Langston Formation is a geologic formation in Idaho and Utah. It preserves fossils dating back to the Cambrian period. The formation is composed of bluish-gray limestone, weathering to a buff color, often with rounded edges.Mansfield, George ...

, and

Wheeler Shale The Wheeler Shale (named by Charles Walcott) is a Cambrian ( 507 Ma) fossil locality world-famous for prolific agnostid and ''Elrathia kingii'' trilobite remains (even though many areas are barren of fossils) and represents a Konzent ...

of North America, as well as

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 China (''P. sinica''). Remains possibly attributable to the genus are also known from the Ordovician

Fezouata Formation The Fezouata Formation or Fezouata Shale is a geological formation in Morocco which dates to the Ordovician, Early Ordovician.

of Morocco and Bøggild Fjord Formation in Greenland. The taxonomic affinity of this genus was enigmatic until the discovery of its chelicerate features in 2019. Subsequent studies suggest it is a basal chelicerate, closer to crown-group Euchelicerata than members of Habeliida. It is also suggested to be closely related to '' Corcorania'', ''

Urokodia ''Urokodia'' is an extinct genus of marine arthropod from the early Cambrian. The only known species is ''Urokodia aequalis'' from the Maotianshan Shales of China based on some 15 specimens. Description ''Urokodia'' is an elongated arthropod ...

'' (formerly), and '' Thelxiope'', which together form the order Mollisoniida.

References

External links

* Burgess Shale fossils Cambrian arthropods Prehistoric arthropod genera Prehistoric chelicerates {{paleo-arthropod-stub

Description

Distribution and taxonomy

See also

References

External links