Meet the 425-million-year-old 'bottle brush' beastie

Palaeobiologists at Oxford University have discovered a new fossil arthropod, christened Enalikter aphson ¸ in 425-million-year-old rocks in Herefordshire. It belongs to an extinct group of marine-dwelling 'short-great-appendage' arthropods, Megacheira, defined by their claw-like front limbs. Arthropods are a highly diverse family of invertebrates that include insects, arachnids and crustaceans, making up some 85 percent of all described animal species. The discovery and analysis of Enalikter aphson has given support to the notion that Megacheira came before the last common ancestor of all living arthropods in the tree of life. If correct, this would indicate that megacheirans were distant ancestors of all arthropods alive today. Enalikter was just 2.4 centimetres long with a rounded rectangular head, no eyes and a curved, whip-like feature protruding from in front of its mouth that may have been used in feeding - for example to capture smaller marine invertebrates. At the rear end of its stick-like body there were two pincer-like projections that were attached to a primitive 'tail', and which may have been used for defence against predators.