The sea predator had an impressive set of appendages on its head

STATES CHRONICLE – Paleontologists discovered the remains of a small weirdly-looking sea predator in the Burgess Shale deposit, Canada. What was remarkable about this creature was its size and appearance. The creature was about an inch long or even shorter, and lived 508 million years ago. Although it was so small, the design of its head was intricate, revealing it was actually an incredibly fearful creature.

The sea predator is an ancestor of all chelicerates

This weird sea predator was called Habelia optata, and is an ancestor to the now-extinct sea scorpion, but also to today’s scorpions, spiders, and horseshoe crabs. The fossils were spotted in the deposit a long time ago but, after a century of studies and analyses, researchers could finally identify the species it belonged to and its characteristics.

The sea predator was an arthropod, and these creatures are split in two different subgroups, mandibulates and chelicerates. Mandibulates have two prominent mandibles with which they grab and squash their food, as well as antennas. Chelicerates also have some appendages attached to their mouth used to cut their food. According to the researchers, the weird creature was an ancestor of the chelicerates.

The many appendages it had on its head made it a fierce predator

By looking at the sea predator, we can understand the evolution of this group of arthropods. The analysis revealed the creature was covered in spines, and had the body split in three. Also, it had many pairs of limbs, which were placed differently than they are nowadays. However, this explains why some species have some remains of ancient limbs still attached to their bodies.

What makes the sea predator remarkable is the anatomy of its head. It has a series of seven appendages with different function. Five of them had teeth and were used for chewing, one of them had bristles and could serve for grasping, and the last one was feebler and only had a tactile function. These impressive tools made it a fierce predator, as it could grab and rip open its prey.

The study on the creature was published in the journal BMC Evolutionary Biology.
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

Ticks and their feeding off other creatures seem to go as far back and to have also affected dinosaurs.

STATES CHRONICLE – It appears that not even the earliest land animals weren’t immune to ticks, as scientists have recently uncovered a preserved tick-like creature trapped in amber.

Preserved Ticks Found in Amber

Based on evidence uncovered at the dig site, the researchers speculate that these ticks, known as Cornupalpatum burmanicum, lived around 100 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period. This makes them the oldest known species of parasite. The insect was found nearby what can be assumed to be its fossilized prey.

For years, paleontologists have suspected that parasites fed on the blood of dinosaurs as they do on birds. However, it’s been difficult to uncover evidence of both dinosaurs and parasitic creatures preserved together in this way before. As such, this discovery is indeed one of great significance.

Doctor Ricardo Perez-de la Fuente, a paleontologist with the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and a co-author of the study, points out just how rare this discovery is.

He points that,  in paleontology,  it is “extremely rare” to find both the preserved remains of a parasite and its host. Even more unexpected was the fact that one of the samples was found preserved alongside one of the dinosaur’s feathers. This helped prove with little doubt left that the tick intended to feed on the creature fossilized nearby.

Another specimen found in the area, the Deinocroton draculi, was harder to link back to. This was not as close or as indisputably attached to the host dinosaur.

However, based on several hair-like setae found on the specimen’s body, the team inferred that the tick-like creatures might have used those features to cling inside nests. Certain species of dinosaurs are believed to have built such habitats.

Unfortunately, any dinosaur lovers out there will have to put to rest the idea of cloning them back into existence through the use of the DNA inside the ticks. Researchers say this is highly unlikely to be possible given the short lifespan of genetic material.

These latest discoveries will, however, tell us more about the evolutionary cycle of both the dinosaur and the parasites. They might also help discover how these two types of creatures have been linked throughout the eras.

Image Source: Wikimedia

A new research found that 75 percent of the honey in the world is contaminated with pesticides.

STATES CHRONICLE – A new study that collected and analyzed honey samples from all over the world reported finding pesticides harmful to bees in 75 percent of them. The researchers found traces of neonicotinoids, one if not the most commonly used type of insecticides.

Why Detecting Pesticides in 75 Percent of the Honey Matters

The University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland researchers that conducted this study analyzed 198 samples of honey. These were reportedly collected from all of the continents, except Antarctica.

According to their analysis, some 75 percent of all the tested honey presented “quantifiable amounts” of more than one pesticide.

The results found that the honey in Asia and North America returned the highest pesticide contamination levels. Around 86 percent of the North American honey samples contained one or more neonicotinoids, and the Asian ones some 80 percent.

European honey samples were just a little behind, with 79 percent of them returning traces of at least one neonicotinoid. The South American samples were the least laced, although they still reached a 57 percent of them being contaminated level.

In general, around 45 percent of all the honey samples reportedly contain two neonicotinoids in their composition. Some 10 percent of them returned traces of four to five of them.

“Our results confirm the exposure of bees to neonicotinoids in their food throughout the world,” writes the study team in its research paper.

The scientists point out that the neonicotinoid levels, although significant, are not a threat to humans. They are, however, potentially dangerous to bees. These important pollinators are only on a downwards slope with their numbers still falling, albeit more slowly than in past years.

Still, researchers warn that neonicotinoids are “highly persistent” once released into the environment as they can easily turn up in water samples, soil, and wildflowers.

As such, the team considers its findings quite alarming as the pesticide contamination levels are enough to affect a bee brain’s function as well as their ability to forage and pollinate plants.

Detailed study findings are available in a paper in the journal Science.

Image Source: Pexels 

Scientists determined that the Cassiopea jellyfish can sleep, in a first time ever.

STATES CHRONICLE – Scientists have determined that the Cassiopea jellyfish rests at night, which came as quite a surprise. It is the first concrete evidence that animals without a brain can enter a sleep-like state.

A team from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena found that jellyfish responded up to 33 percent slower to stimuli during the night than during the day. They also found that when jellyfish were forced to stay awake at night, they responded up to 17 percent slower the next day. Previously, scientists believed that only animals with a brain were capable or needed to sleep.

More Questions Raised About Sleep because of the Cassiopea jellyfish

The team used the jellyfish’s position to determine if it was awake or asleep. This species sits on the ocean floor with their tentacles pointed up into the air when in a sleep-like state and also during the day. They also move their tentacles at a much slower rate. The student scientists say that this is the first time that the effect was investigated in an animal that did not have a brain or a central nervous system.

Now, the team is hoping to figure out why an animal leaves itself open to predators for a good share of the day because it is asleep. The researchers also want to understand why animals have never devised a way to go without resting in a sleep-like state, or if it was possible.

Thomas Bosch, an evolutionary biologist at Kiel University in Germany, says that: “The simplicity of these organisms is a door opener to understand why sleep evolved and what it does.”

Scientists will reportedly be looking to determine a gene that makes animals, and also humans, need to close their eyes and rest. Researchers point out that the role of resting soundly is very poorly understood.

This study of the Cassiopea jellyfish serves to raise new questions about the evolution of this behavior. Understanding when and why sleep began and isolating the gene that might be causing people to enter a sleep-like state may hold important clues in helping people get a better rest, possibly even more.

Study results are available in the journal Current Biology. 

Image Source: Flickr