EvC Forum: Schinderhannes: The Coolest Transitional Fossil Ever!

Strictly speaking, Schinderhannes bartelsi is most likely not a transitional fossil itself (due to its age), but rather, is a descendant of a lineage that bridges the gap between two groups of organisms.

It has several features associated with these Cambrian animals:

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Opabinia regalis

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Anomalocaris canadensis

Specifically, grasping appendages on the head, stalked eyes, and a circular, pineapple-shaped mouth.

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And, it also has several important features associated with these modern animals:

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Specifically, biramous appendages (which means the legs actually consist of the leg and a branch off the upper leg that, in modern crustaceans, holds the gills) and a telson (a long, spinelike tail like that pictured on the horseshoe crab above).

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As an entomologist, I naturally have a great affinity for arthropods, and this strikes me as an extremely important find (the scientific world apparently agrees with me: it was published in Science magazine, here, one of the most prestigious scientific journals in the world today).

On my Cambrian Explosion thread not too long ago, AlphaOmegakid argued that evolutionists avoided talking about the invertebrate fossil record because it did not support the Theory of Evolution (his argument started about Message #104 of that thread).

But, I think Schinderhannes bartelsi destroys that crap argument for good.

Here is a ScienceDaily article about S. bartelsi that talks about how the discoverers believe the "great appendages" of Anomalocaris are proven homologous with the pincers of crustaceans, eurypterids and other "true" arthropods (possibly even the fangs of spiders and pincers of scorpions, though those might be something different).

Bugs rule!

-Bluejay/Mantis/Thylacosmilus

Darwin loves you.

Replies to this message:
	Message 2 by Coragyps, posted 02-13-2009 2:37 PM	Blue Jay has not yet responded
	Message 3 by cavediver, posted 02-13-2009 3:08 PM	Blue Jay has not yet responded

Coragyps

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Message 2 of 3 (498753)
02-13-2009 2:37 PM

Reply to: Message 1 by Blue Jay
02-13-2009 10:07 AM

As always, gang, I can send a pdf of articles from Science or Nature for the cost of an email. (though Science is free to all if it's a year old or more)