Thrilled to see these mind-blowing specimens published. Every day working on the tomographic data revealed new intricate details. I still can’t quite believe that they exist, never mind that I got to work on them. https://t.co/tM18SKBtDE
Thank you to Phil @glpcjd for getting me involved in this amazing project. Also special thanks to Abder @A_El_Albani, the project lead, who provided me the opportunity to work on these stunning fossils in France at @UnivPoitiers where I met many wonderful people.
The presence of a soft tissue labrum also raises questions when it comes to the head anatomy of non-trilobite artiopodans. With so many exceptionally preserved specimens I feel there must be at least a few labra that have flown under the radar, but only time will tell.
You can find out more about this new genus and a detailed discussion of its phylogenetic implications in our open access paper: https://t.co/Xj68vidfto Thanks to @ThePalAss for providing me a bursary to work on this project and to my co-authors for all their help.
Thulaspis tholops: A new genus and species of Cambrian arthropod from the North Greenland Lagerstätte Sirius Passet https://t.co/Xj68vidfto #PapersinPalaeontology (1/6)
However, Thulaspis had a much more modest hypostome compared to the unusually large structures seen in both Squamacula species. The presence of two biramous appendage pairs on Thulaspis’ head is a unique trait in Artiopoda, making its position close to the root intriguing. (5/6)
@InvertebratePal@ProgPal2022 Thank you @InvertebratePal! Hopefully this and more new taxa will help to give us some confidence about the group's ancestral states. I'm looking forward to seeing what's next from these critters!
Been loving #ProgPal21 so far with all the amazing talks and great quiz last night! If any attendees are interested in avian macroevolution and haven't done so yet, please check out my talk and come ask me questions on discord starting in a couple hours.
I have had a fantastic couple of days attending @ThePalAss annual meeting, there were so many amazing talks and posters. Thanks to all the organisers for managing to make the event run so smoothly even in a virtual format.