Yet another new species discovered. Paleontologists uncovered 11 complete fossils of a slug-like creature. It has prickly armor and a muscular foot predicted to have been using for scooting along the ocean floor more than 500 million years ago.
ancient prickly bugs 9
The creature lacked any eyes or limbs. It likely to have scooted along the ocean bottom at the pace of a snail.
Half the size of a potato bug, the newly found creature is called Orthrozanclus reburrus. It had a front shell and long spines, which covered its entire body with a border of shorter spines along the edges.
Has this creature evolved to the modern-day mollusks such as clams and squid? These are found in fossil beds -- Burgess Shale -- surrounded by mountains in British Columbia. The newly found body-armored animals are rare.
Jean-Bernard Baron of the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada said,
Paleontologists have been frustrated for decades, finding these little shell-y parts without any idea of what it could be.So until you find a complete organism, you have absolutely no idea what those parts are. It's like a Martian coming to our planet and finding a tiny bit of armor and wondering what it is. If the Martian finds a complete armor, he could say that was used for defense.
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