fossilized shrimp joins band of species named for naturalist … · 2017. 3. 22. · march 22, 2017...

The Christian Science Monitor

Weston Williams

Staff | @westonwolf359

SCIENCE | FIRST LOOK

Fossilized shrimp joins band of speciesnamed for naturalist David Attenborough

Cascolus ravitis, a Latinized reference to the famed naturalist and BBC

presenter David Attenborough, is the name given to a newly discovered ancient

crustacean that was a precursor to modern shrimp, lobsters, and crabs.

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Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP/File "

Fossilized shrimp joins band of species named for naturalist David... http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2017/0322/Fossilized-shrimp-j...

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MARCH 22, 2017 — An ancient, fossilized crustacean buried in 430-million-

year-old volcanic rock has a brand-new namesake: Sir David Attenborough.

The tiny creature, which is less than a centimeter in length, has been named

Cascolus ravitis by researchers from Oxford, Leicester, Yale, and Imperial College

London. "Cascolus" is a Latin rendering of the Old English equivalent to the name

"Attenborough," and "ravitis" is derived in part from the Roman name for

Leicester, a reference to the University of Leicester in England, where Sir David

grew up. His father worked on the campus at the time as an administrator.

"The biggest compliment that a biologist or paleontologist can pay to another one

is to name a fossil in his honor and I take this as a very great compliment," Sir

David told the BBC.

Sir David is a famous naturalist and former BBC executive known for his work on

the BBC's famed "Life" and "Planet Earth" series, both of which broke new ground

in nature documentary filmmaking. His stature in the field has given him many

unusual namesakes over the years, including a long-beaked echidna from New

Guinea named Zaglossus attenboroughi, a wildflower named the Attenborough

Hawkweed, and even a polar research vessel named the RRS Sir David

Attenborough (despite an online poll that wanted to name the ship "Boaty

McBoatface").

"It is wonderful to be able to name a remarkable fossil from the United Kingdom in

honor of Sir David, who has done so much to promote the conservation of the

Earth's biodiversity," said Derek Briggs, a Yale professor of geology and geophysics

and a co-author of a paper on the crustacean.

The C. ravitis specimen was preserved when an underwater volcano covered the

creature in ash, freezing it in time "like an underwater Pompeii," said Dr. Briggs.

"Our analysis suggests that it is an early representative of the line leading


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ultimately to modern shrimps, lobsters and crabs," he told the Los Angeles Times.

The fossil, unearthed in Herefordshire, England, was very well-preserved but

difficult to analyze through conventional means since it was buried in rock.

Therefore, researchers decided to create a full, virtual 3-D model of the ancient

creature. While this would allow researchers all over the world to get a close,

interactive view of the crustacean, the creation of the model came at a price; the

physical fossil had to be destroyed in the process.

"We ground the fossil away in very thin increments – some 50 for every millimeter

– imaging the details at each stage (which are like slices through the specimen)

and then combining the images into a three-dimensional reconstruction," Briggs

explained to the L.A. Times. "So the specimen we treated in this way no longer

exists but survives as images and a reconstruction that can be provided to any

researcher."

C. ravitis was tiny, just 8.9 millimeters long, with its widest point (around its head

shield) a mere 1.3 millimeters in length. It had a segmented body and

two-branched limbs, both typical features of modern crustaceans. The fossil also

includes a number of petal-like appendages, which may have helped C.

ravitis swim through the ocean, take in oxygen from the surrounding water, or

both.

"Their relatively large surface area would presumably facilitate efficient oxygen

uptake," the study authors wrote.

This article contains material from the Associated Press.

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