Giant arthropods, cousins of contemporary species like shrimp, insects, and spiders, may have controlled the oceans 470 million years ago, according to findings at a new fossil site in Morocco.
Numerous giant "free-swimming" arthropods are documented in the earliest evidence from the Taichoute site, which was formerly underwater but is now a desert.
The study "New fossil assemblages from the Early Ordovician Fezouata Biota" was published in Scientific Reports.
Studying Giant Arthropods
The analysis of these fragments requires further study, but based on specimens previously identified; the giant arthropods may reach lengths of up to 2 meters, as per Phys.org.
According to an international research team, the site and its fossil record are substantially distinct from other Fezouata Shale sites that have been characterized and researched from a distance of 80 km.
They claim Taichoute (which is included in the larger "Fezouata Biota") brings up new study opportunities for paleontology and ecology.
Lead author Dr. Farid Saleh from the University of Lausanne and Yunnan University said, "Everything is new about this locality-its sedimentology, paleontology, and even the preservation of fossils-further highlighting the importance of the Fezouata Biota in completing our understanding of past life on Earth."
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Still Identifying the Giants
While the enormous arthropods we found have not yet been completely identified, some may belong to previously reported species of the Fezouata Biota, and some will undoubtedly be new species, said Dr. Xiaoya Ma from the Universities of Exeter and Yunnan.
However, their enormous size and propensity for swimming freely indicate they may have had a special function in these environments.
Because of its significance for comprehending the development during the Early Ordovician period, some 470 million years ago, the Fezouata Shale was recently chosen as one of the 100 most significant geological sites worldwide.
Some of the fossils in these rocks exhibit excellent preservation of soft tissues, such as internal organs, allowing scientists to study the anatomy of early animal life on Earth.
Mineralized materials, such as shells, are among the fossils found in these rocks.
Animals of the Fezouata Shale, in the Zagora area of Morocco, lived in a shallow sea that frequently underwent storm and wave activity.
The animal populations were buried as a result and are now preserved in situ as remarkable fossils.
However, nektonic (or free-swimming) creatures continue to make up a small portion of the Fezouata Biota overall.
A few million years younger than those from the Zagora region's strata, predominately made up of huge arthropod fragments, are where the Taichoute fossils were discovered, according to recent research.
Dr. Romain Vaucher from the University of Lausanne stated that "carcasses were carried to a rather deep marine environment by underwater landslides, which contrasts with prior finds of carcass preservation in shallower settings, which were buried in place by storm deposits."
Animals like brachiopods are discovered connected to certain arthropod pieces, suggesting that these massive carapaces served as nutrition reserves for the community of bottom dwellers after they were dead and lying on the seafloor, according to Professor Allison Daley of the University of Lausanne.
Fresh Discoveries
When given a chance to take part in the inaugural fieldwork, Dr. Lukáš Laibl from the Czech Academy of Sciences stated, "Taichoute is not just interesting because of the prevalence of huge nektonic arthropods."
Even with regard to trilobites, Taichoute has discovered previously undiscovered species from the Fezouata Biota.
The senior author of the publication and a researcher on the Fezouata Biota for the past 20 years, Dr. Bertrand Lefebvre of the University of Lyon, said in his conclusion that "the Fezouata Biota keeps surprising us with fresh, unexpected discoveries."
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