A giant stem-group chaetognath.

Park, Tae-Yoon S; Nielsen, Morten Lunde; Parry, Luke A; Sørensen, Martin Vinther; Lee, Mirinae; Kihm, Ji-Hoon; Ahn, Inhye; Park, Changkun; de Vivo, Giacinto; Smith, M Paul; Harper, David A T; Nielsen, Arne T; Vinther, Jakob

Abstract

Chaetognaths, with their characteristic grasping spines, are the oldest known pelagic predators, found in the lowest Cambrian (Terreneuvian). Here, we describe a large stem chaetognath, gen. et sp. nov., from the lower Cambrian Sirius Passet Lagerstätte, which exhibits lateral and caudal fins, a distinct head region with long antennae and a jaw apparatus similar to . has previously been interpreted as a total-group chaetognathiferan, as either a stem-chaetognath or gnathostomulid. We show that shares a ventral ganglion with chaetognaths to the exclusion of other animal groups, firmly placing these fossils on the chaetognath stem. The large size (up to 30 cm) and gut contents in suggest that early chaetognaths occupied a higher trophic position in pelagic food chains than today.

Citation

Park, T. S., Nielsen, M. L., Parry, L. A., Sørensen, M. V., Lee, M., Kihm, J., …Vinther, J. (2024). A giant stem-group chaetognath. Science Advances, 10(1), Article eadi6678. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adi6678

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 1, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Jan 3, 2024
• Publication Date: 2024-01
• Deposit Date: Mar 21, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 21, 2024
• Journal: Science advances
• Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: eadi6678
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adi6678
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2151687