Sarotrocercus
| Sarotrocercus Temporal range:
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|---|---|
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| Reconstruction of Sarotrocercus | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | incertae sedis |
| Genus: | †Sarotrocercus |
| Species: | †S. oblitus
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| Binomial name | |
| †Sarotrocercus oblitus Whittington, 1981
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Sarotrocercus is a small
Burgess shale, reaching a centimetre or two in length (0.39–0.79 in).[1] Sarotrocercus is only known from 7 specimens.[2] It may lie in the arthropod crown group, and a recent study has revised some points of its original description.[2]
Morphology
Sarotrocercus had a head shield followed by a trunk of 10 or 11 segments and a telson featuring a series of spines on the end.[2] A pair of big eyes at the end of stalks ventrally emerged from the front of the head.[2] The head bore two pairs of sturdy appendages that are armed with rows of inner spines.[2] At least the anterior 9 trunk segments each possess a pair of appendages, which are only known by lobe-like exopods that are fringed with setae.[2]
Ecology
In the original description, Sarotrocercus had been interpreted as a
benthic or at least swimming close to the seafloor, as the robust head appendages rather suggest a grasping or raking function.[2]
External links
- "Sarotrocercus oblita". Burgess Shale Fossil Gallery. Virtual Museum of Canada. 2011. Archived from the original on 2020-11-12.