Fossils of a new group of predatory animals have been discovered at the Early Cambrian Sirius Passet fossil locality in North Greenland.
This huge worm may have been one of the earliest carnivorous animals to inhabit the water column more than 518 million years ago, revealing a past predatory dynasty previously unknown to scientists.
This newly discovered animal fossil was named Timorebestia, which means ‘terror animal’ in Latin.
Adorned with fins on the sides of its body, a distinct head with long antennae, a large jaw structure inside its mouth, and reaching over 30 cm in length, it was one of the largest swimming animals of the Early Cambrian period.
As reported by Scienceblog, Dr Jakob Vinther from the University of Bristol’s Schools of Earth Sciences and Biological Sciences, senior author of the study, said that primitive arthropods were recognized as dominant predators during the Cambrian period, such as anomalocaridids.
However, he stated that Timorebestia was a distant, but close, relative of living arrow worms, or chaetognaths, which were much smaller marine predators at this time and fed on small zooplankton.
He further explained that the research shows that ancient marine ecosystems were quite complex, with food chains that supported several levels of predators.
Timorebestia may have been at the top of the food chain, as important as some of the top carnivores of the modern ocean, such as sharks and seals in the Cambrian period.
The researchers discovered the remains of a swimming arthropod called Isoxys inside the fossilized digestive system of Timorebestia.
Morten Lunde Nielsen, a former PhD student at Bristol and part of the research, said that arthropods are common in the Sirius Passet and have long protective spines, but they are preyed upon by Timorebestia in large numbers.
The study also highlights that arrow worms and the more primitive Timorebestia were swimming predators, probably dominating the oceans before arthropods took over, and survived for around 10-15 million years before other groups replaced them.
Luke Parry from the University of Oxford, who took part in the research, emphasized the importance of Timorebestia in understanding the origins of jawed predators.
He shows the similarities and differences between today’s arrow worms and Timorebestia, and highlights that these fossils provide a link between seemingly disparate modern organisms.
Senior author Tae Yoon Park of the Korean Polar Research Institute expressed his enthusiasm for the discoveries made on Sirius Passet.
2024-01-04 23:29:00
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