DiBgd / CC BY-SA 4.0.
Reconstruction of the life of a hibbertopterid sea scorpion.
Nationalgeographic.co.id—Paleontologists have reported the find scorpion fossil giant sea 1.1 meters long. The fossil was found in the Atrasado Formation in Kinney Quarry, Bernalillo County, central New Mexico.
The findings have been published in a journal Historical Biology by title “A new species of the eurypterid Hibbertopterus from the Carboniferous of New Mexico, and a review of the Hibbertopteridae.”
The fossil was identified as a new species of giant sea scorpion from time Kasimovian around 307-303 million years ago. The new species is named Hibbertopterus lamsdelli.
This new specimen is only the fourth, but most reliable, report from the United States. The ancient creature was up to 1.1 m long and probably lived in sea-influenced estuaries fed by river deltas.
Its diet likely includes small crustaceans, ostracodes, conchostracans, invertebrate larvae and gastropod eggs.
Hibbertopterus lamsdelli belongs to the Hibbertopteridae, an extinct group of aquatic arthropods in the Order Eurypterida.
“Eurypterids, better known as sea scorpions, are diverse (about 250 species) of Paleozoic aquatic chelicerate arthropods,” said lead author Simon Braddy and colleagues. “Generally rare as fossils, eurypterids were locally abundant in the Lagerstätten Paleozoic America and Europe.”
It is explained that most eurypterids with hind legs that turn into swimming paddles are nektos and benthic predators, and pterygotids reach 2.5 m in length.
Braddy et al.
Holotype specimen (part) of Hibbertopterus lamsdelli. Bar scale – 4 cm.
“Other giant forms include the odd hibbertopterid. This wide-bodied, broom-eating Stylonurid (no oars) grew to more than 2 m,” he said.
“They are not predators of large prey, like most eurypterids. Their lateral eyes, located above the carapace, indicate that they are benthic,” they added.
According to them, there was no way they would eat large prey. Instead, they use their anterior appendages to explore the substrate for shallow and infaunal animals such as small crustaceans and worms.
“It was collected from the top of Kinney Quarry’s bed 3, 15-16 cm thick, mostly ocher, layered, bituminous limestone to calcareous siltstone, commonly referred to as ‘fish bed,’ because it produces most of the fossil fish in the mine,” said the expert. paleontology.
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