New Fossil Discovery Shows Taco-Like Animal, Unlike Anything Researchers Have Seen Before

By: May Man Last updated: Aug 09, 2024

A recent study has unveiled a surprising common ancestor to many widespread animals.

This ancient creature, with its taco-shaped body and multi-jointed legs, has left paleontologists astounded.

Unprecedented Fossil Features

According to the study’s authors, these unique features have never been observed before in the fossil record.

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Drawing of Odaraia alata

Source: Nix Draws Stuff/Tumblr

For years, paleontologists have examined hymenocarines—the ancestors of shrimp, centipedes, and crabs—which lived around 500 million years ago.

Gaps in Evolutionary History

These creatures had multiple sets of legs and pincer-like mandibles.

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Drawing of Odaraia alata

Source: Danielle Dufault/Royal Ontario Museum

However, scientists had been missing a crucial evolutionary link between early hymenocarines and their later descendants.

Bridging Evolutionary Gaps with Unique Features

The newly discovered Odaraia alata specimen bridges this gap and showcases unprecedented characteristics.

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Odaraia alata seen from the side, with its taco-shaped carapace (shell) visible.

Source: Jean-Bernard Caron/Royal Ontario Museum

Its legs are adorned with numerous spines and it has an unusual taco-like shell.

Unimaginable Features of Odaraia alata

Alejandro Izquierdo-López, a paleontologist and lead author of the study made a statement to USA TODAY.

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3D model of the Odaraia alata

Source: Royal Ontario Museum

“No one could have imagined that an animal with 30 pairs of legs, with 20 segments per leg and so many spines on it ever existed, and it’s also enclosed in this very strange taco shape.”

Odaraia alata at the Royal Ontario Museum

The Odaraia alata specimen, now displayed at Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum, is crucial for understanding the evolutionary success of its descendants.

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Exterior of the Royal Ontario Museum

Source: Maksim Sokolov/Wikimedia

These descendants, such as shrimp and various insects, have spread globally.

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Impact on Evolutionary Theories

Izquierdo-López and his colleagues discussed this in a report published in the Royal Society of London’s Proceedings B journal.

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An overhead aerial shot of a wavy blue sea

Source: wirestock/freepik

They noted that the cephalic anatomy of odaraiids had been largely unknown, which complicated evolutionary theories.

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A Funnel-Like Adaptation for Underwater Life

Izquierdo-López explained that Odaraia alata’s taco-shaped body functioned like a funnel.

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Underwater Photography of Ocean

Source: Jeremy Bishop/Pexels

This adaptation was crucial in its underwater habitat.

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Web-Like Net

Prey would be ensnared by its 30 pairs of legs, each segmented around 20 times.

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Close-up photograph of a spiderweb

Source: Freepik

This formation created a dense, web-like net.

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Spiny Legs and Their Fuzzy Net Structure

“Every leg is just completely full of spines,” Izquierdo-López described.

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Drawing of Odaraia alata

Source: Royal Ontario Museum

He noted that over 80 spines per leg create a fuzzy net structure.

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Further Studying

“These are features we have never seen before,” said Izquierdo-López, based in Barcelona, Spain.

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A photograph of several researchers looking at data on a computer

Source: Freepk

He and his team will continue studying Odaraia alata to understand why its descendants have thrived, surpassing snails, octopi, and other long-existing sea creatures in prevalence.

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Ancestral Connections of Life

“Every animal on Earth is connected through ancestry to each other,” he stated.

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Source: Wikimedia

Source: Freepik

“All of these questions are really interesting to me because they speak about the history of our planet.”

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