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'Giant' predator worms more than half a billion years old discovered in North Greenland (phys.org)
submitted 10 months ago by GreyShuck@feddit.uk to c/palaeontology@mander.xyz
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Fossils of a new group of animal predators have been located in the Early Cambrian Sirius Passet fossil locality in North Greenland. These large worms may be some of the earliest carnivorous animals to have colonized the water column more than 518 million years ago, revealing a past dynasty of predators that scientists didn't know existed.

The new fossil animals have been named Timorebestia, meaning 'terror beasts' in Latin. Adorned with fins down the sides of their body, a distinct head with long antennae, massive jaw structures inside their mouth, and growing to more than 30cm in length, these were some of the largest swimming animals in the Early Cambrian times.

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[-] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 12 points 10 months ago

At 30cm in length, I think you're right.

this post was submitted on 03 Jan 2024
126 points (98.5% liked)

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Paleontology, also spelled palaeontology[a] or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossils to classify organisms and study their interactions with each other and their environments (their /c/paleoecology. Read more...

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