Reconstruction of the head region of Cambroraster falcatus. A: Dorsal view, B: Ventral view, Ey: Eye, Fa: Frontal appendage, He:H-element, Bp: Bilobate posterior region, Lp: Posterolateral process, Oc: Oral cone, Pe: P-element, Pn: P-element neck
Cambroraster is an extinct monotypic genus of hurdiidradiodont, dating to the middle Cambrian, and represented by the single formally described species Cambroraster falcatus.[1] Hundreds of specimens were found in the Burgess Shale, and described in 2019.[2] A large animal (for its era) at up to 30 centimetres (12 in) (but not as long as Titanokorys at 50 centimetres (20 in)), it is characterized by a significantly enlarged horseshoe-shaped dorsal carapace (H-element), and presumably fed by sifting through the sediment with its well-developed tooth plates (oral cone) and short frontal appendages with hooked spines.[1] Nicknamed the "spaceship" fossil when first found, for the way its dorsal carapace resembles the fictional Millennium Falcon, the specific epithet falcatus in its scientific name is a nod to that resemblance.[1][3][4]
Reconstruction
Head sclerites
Frontal appendage
Movement range of the frontal appendage
A second species of Cambroraster is known from the Chengjiang Biota of South China, making it the first uncontroversial hurdiid from the Cambrian of China. This species is known only from a juvenile dorsal carapace, so it was not given a specific name.[5]
Although originally suggested to have used its frontal appendages to sift sediment for prey, a later study by different authors suggested that it may have been a filter feeder instead.[6]
^Liu, Yu; Lerosey-Aubril, Rudy; Audo, Denis; Zhai, Dayou; Mai, Huijuan; Ortega-Hernández, Javier (2020). "Occurrence of the eudemersal radiodont Cambroraster in the early Cambrian Chengjiang Lagerstätte and the diversity of hurdiid ecomorphotypes". Geological Magazine. 157 (7): 1200–1206. Bibcode:2020GeoM..157.1200L. doi:10.1017/S0016756820000187. ISSN0016-7568.
