Latest news with #MosuraFentoni
CTV News
6 days ago
- General
- CTV News
New fossil find rewrites ancient history
Winnipeg Watch Dr. Joe Moysiuk introduces Mosura fentoni, a 500-million-year-old fossil that could shift how we understand early evolution.
The Independent
20-05-2025
- Science
- The Independent
Three-eyed ancient predator ‘unlike any living animal' discovered
Scientists examining a rare fossil found in Canada's Burgess Shale have discovered a predator with three eyes that lived over 500 million years ago. The fossil species, named Mosura fentoni for resembling the fictional Japanese kaiju Mothra, was about the size of an index finger with three eyes, spiny jointed claws, a circular mouth lined with teeth, and a body with swimming flaps along its sides, researchers from the Royal Ontario Museum said. Mosura fentoni, also dubbed 'sea moth' due to its broad swimming flaps and narrow abdomen, was a member of an extinct group of animals called radiodonts, which included the meter-long marine predator Anomalocaris canadensis. It was, researchers said, 'unlike any living animal '. Mosura had a unique abdomen-like body region with multiple segments at its back end, according to a new study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science. 'This is a neat example of evolutionary convergence with modern groups like horseshoe crabs, woodlice, and insects, which share a batch of segments bearing respiratory organs at the rear of the body," study co-author Joe Moysiuk said. Scientists said it was not clear why Mosura had this unique body adaptation but suspected it could be related to a particular habitat preference requiring more efficient respiration. It was distantly related to modern moths and belonged to a deeper branch of arthropods including spiders, crabs and millipedes. "Radiodonts were the first group of arthropods to branch out in the evolutionary tree, so they provide key insight into ancestral traits for the entire group,' Jean-Bernard Caron, another author of the study, said. 'The new species emphasises these early arthropods were already surprisingly diverse and were adapting in a comparable way to their distant modern relatives.' Mosura did not have arteries and veins, but an "open" circulatory system that involved the heart pumping blood into large internal body cavities called lacunae. "The well-preserved lacunae of the circulatory system in Mosura help us to interpret similar, but less clear features that we've seen before in other fossils,' Dr Moysiuk said. The Burgess Shale fossil grounds in Canada 's Yoho and Kootenay National Parks are recognised as Unesco World Heritage Sites. 'Very few fossil sites in the world offer this level of insight into soft internal anatomy. We can see traces representing bundles of nerves in the eyes that would have been involved in image processing, just like in living arthropods,' Dr Caron said, adding that the 'details are astounding'.
Fox News
19-05-2025
- Science
- Fox News
Paleontologists discover 'moth-like' predator that lived 506 million years ago
Print Close By Andrea Margolis Published May 19, 2025 Paleontologists recently discovered a 506-million-year-old "moth-like" predator that lurked in prehistoric Canada. In a press release from the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), officials identified the creature as Mosura fentoni, an extinct anthropoid, as news agencies including SWNS reported. (See the video at the top of this article.) The museum reported that most of the Mosura fossils were collected by ROM paleontologists at Raymond Quarry in Yoho National Park in British Columbia. 'WELL-PRESERVED' BABY MAMMOTH DATING BACK TO ICE AGE DISSECTED BY SCIENTISTS: PHOTOS Most were found between 1975 and 2022. "Mosura fentoni was about the size of your index finger and had three eyes, spiny jointed claws, a circular mouth lined with teeth and a body with swimming flaps along its sides," the museum noted. "These traits show it to be part of an extinct group known as the radiodonts, which also included the famous Anomalocaris canadensis, a meter-long predator that shared the waters with Mosura." What makes the discovery so interesting to researchers is that Mosura had an abdomen-like body region made up of multiple segments at its back end – which had not been previously observed in any radiodonts. ANCIENT SETTLEMENT REVEALS REMAINS OF 1,800-YEAR-OLD DOG, BAFFLING EXPERTS: 'PRESERVED QUITE WELL' Joe Moysiuk, a curator of paleontology and geology at the Manitoba Museum, said Mosura had 16 of these segments, all lined with gills. "This is a neat example of evolutionary convergence with modern groups, like horseshoe crabs, woodlice and insects, which share a batch of segments bearing respiratory organs at the rear of the body," Moysiuk described. The museum reported that the species has been nicknamed the "sea-moth" by field collectors based on its moth-like attributes. For more Lifestyle articles, visit "This inspired its scientific name, which references the fictional Japanese kaiju also known as Mothra. Only distantly related to real moths – as well as spiders, crabs, and millipedes – Mosura belongs on a much deeper branch in the evolutionary tree of these animals, collectively known as arthropods," the statement added. Instead of arteries and veins, Mosura's heart pumped blood into large internal body cavities called lacunae. Interestingly, the fossils show details of Mosura's internal anatomy – including its nervous system, circulatory system, and digestive tract. Instead of arteries and veins, Mosura's heart pumped blood into large internal body cavities called lacunae. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER ROM curator Jean-Bernard Caron said that "few fossil sites in the world offer this level of insight into soft internal anatomy." "We can see traces representing bundles of nerves in the eyes that would have been involved in image processing, just like in living arthropods," the expert added. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP "The details are astounding." Print Close URL
Fox News
19-05-2025
- Science
- Fox News
Paleontologists discover 'moth-like' predator that lived 506 million years ago
Paleontologists recently discovered a 506-million-year-old "moth-like" predator that lurked in prehistoric Canada. In a press release from the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), officials identified the creature as Mosura fentoni, an extinct anthropoid, as news agencies including SWNS reported. (See the video at the top of this article.) The museum reported that most of the Mosura fossils were collected by ROM paleontologists at Raymond Quarry in Yoho National Park in British Columbia. Most were found between 1975 and 2022. "Mosura fentoni was about the size of your index finger and had three eyes, spiny jointed claws, a circular mouth lined with teeth and a body with swimming flaps along its sides," the museum noted. "These traits show it to be part of an extinct group known as the radiodonts, which also included the famous Anomalocaris canadensis, a meter-long predator that shared the waters with Mosura." What makes the discovery so interesting to researchers is that Mosura had an abdomen-like body region made up of multiple segments at its back end – which had not been previously observed in any radiodonts. Joe Moysiuk, a curator of paleontology and geology at the Manitoba Museum, said Mosura had 16 of these segments, all lined with gills. "This is a neat example of evolutionary convergence with modern groups, like horseshoe crabs, woodlice and insects, which share a batch of segments bearing respiratory organs at the rear of the body," Moysiuk described. The museum reported that the species has been nicknamed the "sea-moth" by field collectors based on its moth-like attributes. "This inspired its scientific name, which references the fictional Japanese kaiju also known as Mothra. Only distantly related to real moths – as well as spiders, crabs, and millipedes – Mosura belongs on a much deeper branch in the evolutionary tree of these animals, collectively known as arthropods," the statement added. Instead of arteries and veins, Mosura's heart pumped blood into large internal body cavities called lacunae. Interestingly, the fossils show details of Mosura's internal anatomy – including its nervous system, circulatory system, and digestive tract. Instead of arteries and veins, Mosura's heart pumped blood into large internal body cavities called lacunae. ROM curator Jean-Bernard Caron said that "few fossil sites in the world offer this level of insight into soft internal anatomy." "We can see traces representing bundles of nerves in the eyes that would have been involved in image processing, just like in living arthropods," the expert added. "The details are astounding."
CNN
16-05-2025
- Science
- CNN
A three-eyed ‘sea moth' was an ocean predator 506 million years ago
With the help of more than five dozen fossils, paleontologists have uncovered a tiny three-eyed predator nicknamed the 'sea moth' that swam in Earth's oceans 506 million years ago. Mosura fentoni, as the species is known, belongs to a group called radiodonts, an early offshoot of the arthropod evolutionary tree, according to a new study published Tuesday in the journal Royal Society Open Science. While radiodonts are now extinct, studying their fossilized remains can illuminate how modern arthropods such as insects, spiders and crabs evolved. One of the most diverse animal groups, arthropods are believed to account for more than 80% of living animal species, said lead study author Dr. Joe Moysiuk, curator of paleontology and geology at the Manitoba Museum in Winnipeg. Well-preserved specimens of the previously unknown Mosura fentoni also reveal something that's never been seen in any other radiodont: an abdomen-like body region with 16 segments that include gills at its rear. This part of the creature's anatomy is similar to a batch of segments bearing respiratory organs at the rear of the body found in distant modern radiodont relatives like horseshoe crabs, woodlice and insects, Moysiuk said. The feature, likely used to help Mosura capture more oxygen from its environment, could represent an example of evolutionary convergence, in which similar-looking structures evolve independently in different groups of organisms, he said. 'The new species emphasizes that these early arthropods were already surprisingly diverse and were adapting in a comparable way to their distant modern relatives' said study coauthor Dr. Jean-Bernard Caron, the Richard M. Ivey Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, in a statement. No animal living today quite looks like Mosura fentoni, Moysiuk said, although it had jointed claws similar to those of modern insects and crustaceans. But unlike those critters, which can have two or four additional eyes used to help maintain orientation, Mosura had a larger and more conspicuous third eye in the middle of its head. 'Although not closely related, Mosura probably swam in a similar way to a ray, undulating its multiple sets of swimming flaps up and down, like flying underwater,' Moysiuk said in an email. 'It also had a mouth shaped like a pencil sharpener and lined with rows of serrated plates, unlike any living animal.' About the size of an adult human's index finger, Mosura and its swimming flaps vaguely resemble a moth, which led researchers to call it the 'sea moth.' Some of the Mosura specimens provided tantalizing traces of front claws, which helped the radiodont feed. Caron used a miniature jackhammer to remove rock overlying the head of a specimen and found a perfect outstretched spiny claw tucked beneath, Moysiuk said. 'Unlike many of its relatives which have claws lined with a meshwork of spines for capturing prey, Mosura has long, smooth-sided, finger-like spines that are forked at their tips,' Moysiuk said. 'It's a bit of a puzzle how exactly it was using these to capture prey, but (we) think it might have seized smaller animals with the tips of the spines and passed them towards the mouth.' While there is no direct evidence of what Mosura ate, we know it lived alongside animals like acorn worms, bristle worms and small crustacean-like arthropods that the radiodont could have preyed on. In turn, Mosura may have been prey for other larger radiodonts, such as the shrimplike Anomalocaris canadensis, or the gargantuan jellyfish Burgessomedusa phasmiformis. 'This showcases there are yet more examples of these animals, specifically, forms that were active marine predators, filling in more of the picture of how this ancient marine ecosystem functioned,' said Dr. Russell D.C. Bicknell, a postdoctoral researcher in the American Museum of Natural History's division of paleontology. Bicknell was not involved in the new study but previously authored research on Anomalocaris canadensis. Mosura's unexpected trunk region challenges how researchers understand radiodont body evolution and how members of the group shifted from having wormlike bodies, said Rudy Lerosey-Aubril, an invertebrate paleontologist at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology who was also not involved with the new research. 'It may offer a rare glimpse into developmental processes, particularly in early members of the group, before evolutionary shifts led to the more consistent body organization seen in most known species,' Lerosey-Aubril said in an email. The first Mosura fentoni specimen was discovered early in the 20th century by paleontologist Charles Walcott, who was the first known person to collect fossils from British Columbia's Burgess Shale, a 508 million-year-old fossil bed. Walcott was the director of the US Geological Survey and administrator of the Smithsonian Institution. But no research about the Mosura specimen he found was ever published, and little was known about radiodonts at the time. The other 60 fossils were collected by researchers at the Royal Ontario Museum between 1975 and 2022. 'It's only with time and study of related species that the significance of these fossils gradually became clear,' Moysiuk said. 'More recently, our team started finding additional specimens at new Burgess Shale sites in Kootenay National Park, which helped to spur on this publication.' The fossils found in the Burgess Shale, located within the Canadian Rockies, represent a wide range of animals from the end of the Cambrian Period, when life diversified on a large scale. The Burgess Shale fossils are also known for being incredibly well preserved. 'In this study we were able to discern traces of the nervous, digestive, and circulatory system, which are almost never preserved as fossils,' Moysiuk said in an email.'This provides unique and significant insight into life at this critical time in Earth's history.' The team was able to spy traces that represented bundles of nerves in the eyes, which — like modern arthropods — Mosura used for image processing, Caron said. Rather than arteries and veins, Mosura also had an open circulatory system, meaning that its heart pumped blood into lacunae, or large internal body cavities. The cavities were preserved as reflective patches within the body. The discovery of numerous complete tiny radiodont specimens is remarkable, Lerosey-Aubril said. The fine details preserved within the fossil underscore the importance of the Burgess Shale, he added, and a broader picture of the full diversity of Cambrian animals will require investigating other sites that hold fossils and evidence of soft-bodied organisms. Radiodont fossils are permanently on display in the Royal Ontario Museum's 'Dawn of Life' exhibition, and a Mosura specimen will be on view at the Manitoba Museum later this year.
