Well, actually, no. But it got your attention!
What we have here is Schinderhannes bartelsi from the Devonian aged Hunsrück Slate, near Bundenbach in Germany.
The find is described in the latest issue of Science, but I haven't got a copy so I can't say too much yet, but I'll be writing more once I get hold of the paper.
The appendages (the ones up front, not the ones sticking out the sides making S. bartelsi look like Thunderbird 2) sure look like Anomalocaris appendages, but there is only so many ways you can do large frontal appendages before you start repeating them.
The real interesting thing is the mouth. There are lots of ways you can do jaws, but radial jaws are very rare.
I wonder if there are any examples of fossils with bite marks from the Hunsrück Slate?
There is a Science Daily story here.
The critter is approximately 4 inches long.
Honestly! I'd hardly finished banging on about how Anomalocaris was crucified on the spandrals of San Marco, when up pops S. bartelsi! Still, in my defence, S. bartelsi does look like it comes pre-crucified!
More soon.
wow¡ looks like a very derived anomalocarid¡¡¡
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