Capinatator

Name: Capinatator ‭(‬grasping swimmer‭)‬.
Phonetic: Kap-e-na-ta-tor.
Named By: Derek E.‭ ‬G.‭ ‬Briggs‭ & ‬Jean-Bernard Caron‭ ‬-‭ ‬2017.
Classification: Animalia,‭ ‬Protostomia,‭ ‬Spiralia,‭ ‬Gnathifera,‭ ‬Chaetognatha.
Species: C.‭ ‬praetermissus‭ (‬type‭)‬.
Diet: Carnivore‭?
Size: About‭ ‬10‭ ‬centimetres long.
Known locations: Canada,‭ ‬British Columbia‭ ‬-‭ ‬Burgess Shale.
Time period: Mid Cambrian.
Fossil representation: ‭Almost complete




       Capinatator is a prehistoric form of what we today would call an arrow worm.‭ ‬Capinatator had a ten centimetre long elongated body,‭ ‬while around the head‭ ‬fifty,‭ ‬one centimetre long hooked spines grew around the edges of a very rudimentary mouth.‭ ‬These spines flared out so that as Capinatator swam through the water,‭ ‬smaller organisms,‭ ‬and perhaps other floating organic matter,‭ ‬would be snared within the cage of spines as they closed around them,‭ ‬and taken into the mouth.‭
       At ten centimetres long,‭ ‬Capinatator is amongst the largest chaetognathan worms ever discovered,‭ ‬and has nearly double the number of spines in living worms.

Further reading
-‭ ‬A Large Cambrian Chaetognath with Supernumerary Grasping Spines.‭ ‬-‭ ‬Current Biology.‭ ‬27‭ (‬16‭)‬.‭ ‬-‭ ‬Derek E.‭ ‬G.‭ ‬Briggs‭ & ‬Jean-Bernard Caron‭ ‬-‭ ‬2017.



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