Sarotrocercus Temporal range:
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Holotype | |
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Reconstruction of Sarotrocercus | |
Scientific classification
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Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | incertae sedis |
Genus: | † Sarotrocercus |
Species: | †S. oblitus
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Binomial name | |
†Sarotrocercus oblitus Whittington, 1981
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Sarotrocercus is a small Cambrian arthropod known from Burgess shale, reaching a centimetre or two in length (0.39–0.79 in). [1] Sarotrocercus is only known from 7 specimens. [2] It may lie in the arthropod crown group, and a recent study has revised some points of its original description. [2]
Sarotrocercus had a head shield followed by a trunk of 10 or 11 segments and a telson featuring a series of spines on the end. [2] A pair of big eyes at the end of stalks ventrally emerged from the front of the head. [2] The head bore two pairs of sturdy appendages that are armed with rows of inner spines. [2] At least the anterior 9 trunk segments each possess a pair of appendages, which are only known by lobe-like exopods that are fringed with setae. [2]
In the original description, Sarotrocercus had been interpreted as a pelagic, nektonic animal that swam freely on its back, moving perhaps through movements of the trunk appendages and the action of its long tail tuft. [3] This was mainly based on the rarity of the specimens, as the Burgess Shale contains few swimming organisms; the submarine landslides that buried organisms mainly smothered benthic and nektobenthic organisms. [3] [4] However, based on the redescription by Haug et al. 2011, Sarotrocercus may had been benthic or at least swimming close to the seafloor, as the robust head appendages rather suggest a grasping or raking function. [2]
Sarotrocercus Temporal range:
| |
---|---|
![]() | |
Holotype | |
![]() | |
Reconstruction of Sarotrocercus | |
Scientific classification
![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | incertae sedis |
Genus: | † Sarotrocercus |
Species: | †S. oblitus
|
Binomial name | |
†Sarotrocercus oblitus Whittington, 1981
|
Sarotrocercus is a small Cambrian arthropod known from Burgess shale, reaching a centimetre or two in length (0.39–0.79 in). [1] Sarotrocercus is only known from 7 specimens. [2] It may lie in the arthropod crown group, and a recent study has revised some points of its original description. [2]
Sarotrocercus had a head shield followed by a trunk of 10 or 11 segments and a telson featuring a series of spines on the end. [2] A pair of big eyes at the end of stalks ventrally emerged from the front of the head. [2] The head bore two pairs of sturdy appendages that are armed with rows of inner spines. [2] At least the anterior 9 trunk segments each possess a pair of appendages, which are only known by lobe-like exopods that are fringed with setae. [2]
In the original description, Sarotrocercus had been interpreted as a pelagic, nektonic animal that swam freely on its back, moving perhaps through movements of the trunk appendages and the action of its long tail tuft. [3] This was mainly based on the rarity of the specimens, as the Burgess Shale contains few swimming organisms; the submarine landslides that buried organisms mainly smothered benthic and nektobenthic organisms. [3] [4] However, based on the redescription by Haug et al. 2011, Sarotrocercus may had been benthic or at least swimming close to the seafloor, as the robust head appendages rather suggest a grasping or raking function. [2]