Cambroraster

Cambroraster is an extinct monotypic genus of hurdiid radiodont, dating to the middle Cambrian, and represented by the single formally described species Cambroraster falcatus. Hundreds of specimens were found in the Burgess Shale, and described in 2019. 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. 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. 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. 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.

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