The head of the research team, paleontologist Joe Moysiuk, stated that they found a fossil of an arthropod species belonging to the Ordovician period, which lived about 450 million years ago, and they named the fossil “Tomlinsonus Dimitrii”.
“TOMLINSONUS DIMITRII” FORCE FINGER
Moysiuk said the well-preserved fossil was found in Brechin, on the northeast coast of Lake Simcoe, and noted that the fossil was about the size of a human forefinger.
Noting that the fossil is part of the marrellomorph group of arthropods, Moysiuk said, “Tomlinsonus has an ornate head shield adorned with extraordinary feather-like spines. This odd-looking animal probably crossed the muddy seafloor using a pair of extremely long-legged limbs.” said.
Noting that the fossil lived on the floor of the shallow oceans that covered most of the province of Ontario at that time, Moysiuk stated that the sea floor, which was regularly exposed to storms, was covered and the formed sediments covered and protected the organisms in the region.
“IT WAS UNIQUE” COMMENT FROM THE STUDY’S CO-AUTHOR
“The discovery at Brechin was unique in that Tomlinsonus was completely soft-bodied and not normally preserved,” said study co-author George Kampouris, noting that generally only the hard parts of an organism, such as its shells and bones, tend to fossilize. used the phrase.
Jean-Bernard Caron, one of the research team, said: “It was a great surprise to find the soft tissue fossil. These creatures were not seen in the shallow reef sediments that occupied the large waters of eastern North America during the Ordovician period. The discovery of fully soft-bodied species such as Tomlinsonus increased the diversity that really existed at the time. It makes it much better understood.” made a statement.
The study of the Tomlinsonus fossil, exhibited in the Dawn of Life exhibition at the Royal Ontario Museum, has been published in The Journal of Paleontology. (AA)