![]() ![]() Integral to such studies are anomalocaridids, a clade of stem arthropods whose remarkable morphology illuminates early arthropod relationships and Cambrian ecology. Cambrian pelagic ecosystemsĮxceptionally preserved fossils from the Palaeozoic era provide crucial insights into arthropod evolution, with recent discoveries bringing phylogeny and character homology into sharp focus. The presence of nektonic suspension feeders intheEarl圜ambrian, togetherwith evidence for a diverse pelagic community containing phytoplankton7,8 andmesozooplankton7,9,10, indicate the existence of a complex pelagic ecosystem11 supported by high primary productivity and nutrient flux12,13. Our observations demonstrate that large, nektonic suspension feeders first evolvedduring theCambrian explosion, as part of an adaptive radiation of anomalocarids. borealis was a microphagous suspension feeder, using its appendages for sweep-net capture of food items down to 0.5mm, within the size range of mesozooplankton such as copepods. The appendage bears long, slender and equally spaced ventral spines furnished with dense rows of long and fine auxiliary spines. Here we describe new material fromTamisiocaris borealis6, an anomalocarid fromthe Earl圜ambrian (Series 2) Sirius Passet Fauna of North Greenland, and propose that its frontal appendage is specialized for suspension feeding. Anomalocarids, a group of stem arthropods that were the largest nektonic animals of the Cambrian and Ordovician periods, are generally thought to have been apex predators3–5. However, animals occupying this niche have not been identified fromthe early Palaeozoic era. Large, actively swimming suspension feeders evolved several times in Earth’s history, arising independently from groups as diverse as sharks, rays and stemteleost fishes1, and in mysticete whales2.
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