Surusicaris

Surusicaris
Temporal range: Miaolingian
Holotype and only known specimen
Life restoration
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Order: †Isoxyida
Family: †Isoxyidae
Genus: †Surusicaris
Aria and Caron, 2015
Type species
Surusicaris elegans
Aria and Caron, 2015

Surusicaris is an extinct genus of isoxyid bivalved arthropod, known from the Cambrian Burgess Shale of British Columbia, Canada. It is monotypic, containing a single species, Surusicaris elegans. It is considered to be closely related to Isoxys, and like it has spined grasping frontal appendages.

Description

Diagram

The only known specimen (ROM 62976), has a roughly semicircular bivalved carapace, which is approximately 1.49 centimetres (0.59 in) long and 0.89 centimetres (0.35 in) tall. The head has a pair of rounded eyes, and a pair of upward-curling segmented frontal appendages with at least five segments, the second, third and fourth of which bear a spine, with three long spines and at least one short spine on the fifth and terminal segment. The head also has three pairs of other limbs, which are stubby, uniramous (single-part) and unsclerotized, with an annulated appearance, which are tipped with bifid claws. Along the trunk are 12 pairs of biramous (two-branched) limbs, which taper in size posteriorly. Their morphology is simple, the morphology of the endopod (the inner, leg-like limb branch) is similar to those of the three uniramous head limbs, while the exopod (the outer limb branch) is sub-lobate, elongate, and possibly flattened, with marginal setae (hair-like structures) and about the same length as the endopod. The posterior is poorly preserved but may be a tail-piece formed by two lobes or a fan.

Taxonomy and ecology

Surusicaris has been placed as a member of Isoxyida and Isoxyidae, both of which contain only one other genus, Isoxys. Isoxyids are considered to be basal stem-group arthropods. Isoxyids are thought to have been actively swimming predators.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Collantes, Luis; Pates, Stephen. "Isoxys carbonelli and the palaeoenvironmental disparity of Isoxys during Cambrian Stage 3". Historical Biology. 0 (0): 1–9. doi:10.1080/08912963.2025.2529395. ISSN 0891-2963.
  2. 1 2 Aria, Cédric; Caron, Jean-Bernard (2015-06-03). Friedman, Matt (ed.). "Cephalic and Limb Anatomy of a New Isoxyid from the Burgess Shale and the Role of "Stem Bivalved Arthropods" in the Disparity of the Frontalmost Appendage". PLOS ONE. 10 (6) e0124979. Bibcode:2015PLoSO..1024979A. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0124979. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 4454494. PMID 26038846.
  3. ↑ Zhang, Caixia; Liu, Yu; Ortega-Hernández, Javier; Wolfe, Joanna M.; Jin, Changfei; Mai, Huijuan; Hou, Xianguang; Guo, Jin; Zhai, Dayou (2023-04-26). "Three-dimensional morphology of the biramous appendages in Isoxys from the early Cambrian of South China, and its implications for early euarthropod evolution". Proceedings. Biological Sciences. 290 (1997) 20230335. doi:10.1098/rspb.2023.0335. ISSN 1471-2954. PMC 10113025. PMID 37072042.