Hail squid – a new species of extinct cephalopod resembling a 10-armed vampire named after Biden

Hail squid – a vampire fit for his boss

Researchers from Yale University and the American Museum of Natural History have identified the closest relatives of octopuses and vampire squids — they named them 46^Yes President of the United States.

Syllipsimopodi Bidnik It had 10 arms, fins, and rows of prey to catch prey. It lived 328 million years ago and represents a new species of vampire, a group of marine animals that includes modern octopuses and vampire squid.

The researchers named the animal after President Joseph Biden to honor the new president, who had just been inaugurated at the time the study was submitted for publication, and in recognition of his dedication to science.

But the name of the leader is only part of the meaning of the animal.

said Christopher Wallen, a postdoctoral researcher at the National Science Foundation in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Yale University and the American Museum of Science.

Artistic reconstruction of a newly described 328-million-year-old locus. Credit: © K. Whalen

Whalen is the lead author of a study in the journal Connecting with nature about discovery.

†Syllipsimopodi Bidnik It also challenges the prevailing arguments about the origin of the vampyropod and provides a new model for intracephalic cephalopod evolution. “

Wallen and co-author Neil Landman of the American Museum of Natural History identified a specimen originally discovered in downtown Montana, which is now part of the Royal Ontario Museum’s collection.

Syllipsimopodi Bidnik It expands the vampire fossil record by about 82 million years. It is the only known vampyropod that has 10 functional arms. On the other hand, the octopus has eight arms and a modern vampire squid has eight arms and two hairs. Squid and other modern squid have 10 arms.

Early vampires like Syllipsimopodi Bidnik It also possesses a dissecting piece called the gladius – the remnants of a flattened, translucent inner shell.

“Today, only squids and their relatives and vampire squids have the shutter,” Wallen said. “The octopuses have shrunk them into fins or fins, which are small, sturdy, rod-shaped structures.”

Wallen said: Syllipsimopodi Bidnik It had a torpedo-shaped body. Its fins may be large enough to act as stabilizers and help it swim. One pair of arms was much longer than the other four, similar to the elongated tentacles of a modern squid. Researchers expect that Syllipsimopodi Bidnik It used its longer arms to catch its prey – possibly small slinging animals – and its shorter arms to restrain and manipulate prey.

As for why researchers named the animal after Biden, Wallen said the publication was accepted into the Capitol shortly after the president’s inauguration and the January 6 uprising.

“In a way, I wanted to get to know the moment in a more positive and forward-looking way,” he said.

“I am encouraged by President Biden’s plans to address human-caused climate change, and his general sense of the need for scientists to listen to scientists,” Wallen added.

Reference: “Mississippi cephalopod fossil Beer Gulch Lagerstat sheds light on early vampire evolution” By Christopher D. Allen and Neil H. Landman, 8 Mar. 2022 Available here. Connecting with nature†
DOI: 10.1038 / s41467-022-28333-5

Grants from a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in the Biology Program of the National Science Foundation and the Paleontological Society funded the research.