New monster portrait revealed in Yunnan province – China
Portrait of a new monster revealed in Yunnan province – China – (Graphic photo: X. Wang).Like most other Cambrian monsters, this creature was named Kylinxia zhangi – with unimaginable characteristics, strange compared to today’s animal world.
According to Sci-News, it is about the same size as a large shrimp, with 3 eyes on its head and a pair of scary legs growing right on its head, looking like two large claws used to catch prey. In addition, its four rear body parts each carry an additional pair of jointed legs.
Paleontologists from Yunnan University (China), Leicester University and London Museum of Natural History (UK) used microscopic tomography to recreate the monster. Analysis results also show that it is 518 million years old.
“Kylinxia zhangi occupies a pivotal position in arthropod evolution,” said researcher Robert O’Flynn from the University of Leicester.
This also confirms that the area where it emerged – the Chengjiang complex in Yunnan province – is a place that can help build understanding of early arthropod evolution.
Although attacked by subsequent mass extinctions, the Cambrian biota created an important foundation in the planet’s life world. They are also the class of organisms that represent the largest “biological explosion” period, when life evolved to leap from simple primitive organisms to complex species.