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:
Opabinia regalis
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:
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.