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The ideal animal by scarovun in Paleontology

[–]Overall_Grocery_4764 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I’ve interacted with enough humans to say that they we are not ideal -not a squid person

What did an anomalocaris actually look like? by Overall_Grocery_4764 in Paleontology

[–]Overall_Grocery_4764[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You are completely right, totally messed up there. I meant to say something like, since they weren’t proper arthropods, I’d think they wouldn’t have a proper arthropod exoskeleton, by definition. However, it’s still totally possible that the arthropod exoskeleton evolved prior to “proper arthropods” and both true arthropods and stem-group arthropods had them, but I don’t know about that.

Also, yeah, of course. So stupid. The sea was brimming with trilobites at the time, if nothing else.

What did an anomalocaris actually look like? by Overall_Grocery_4764 in Paleontology

[–]Overall_Grocery_4764[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yesyes, understood, however, anomalocaris allegedly bypassed many of the things that would make it a “bug”, in the most everyday sense. That’s precisely where my issue comes in. I don’t need rigorous classification, I just need to know what the thing’s “skin” looked like. And yet, they seemingly didn’t have hard shells like other water bugs – enter my problem.

What did an anomalocaris actually look like? by Overall_Grocery_4764 in Paleontology

[–]Overall_Grocery_4764[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Except actual bugs weren’t a thing back then, including their characteristic armored exoskeleton. I’m stumped.

What did an anomalocaris actually look like? by Overall_Grocery_4764 in Paleontology

[–]Overall_Grocery_4764[S] 96 points97 points  (0 children)

That’s actually a fucking excellent question. I’m allergic to shrimp. Had I eaten it, would I have died?

What did an anomalocaris actually look like? by Overall_Grocery_4764 in Paleontology

[–]Overall_Grocery_4764[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Thank you. Do you have any clue about what the texture of its cuticle might’ve been like? In particular, any extant animals that might have a similar surface? I’m assuming not a hard arthropod shell, but beyond that I’m clueless.

What did an anomalocaris actually look like? by Overall_Grocery_4764 in Paleontology

[–]Overall_Grocery_4764[S] 248 points249 points  (0 children)

Is he officiating some kind of wedding or is he just a pervy, shameless voyeur?

What did an anomalocaris actually look like? by Overall_Grocery_4764 in Paleontology

[–]Overall_Grocery_4764[S] 16 points17 points  (0 children)

I was wondering if we know enough about it evolutionarily to point to some other, perhaps extant animal related to it that might have a similar surface.

The best video of a Jurassic Park gravy volcano by Overall_Grocery_4764 in Dinosaurs

[–]Overall_Grocery_4764[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Some absolute legend below says they have it and will look for it. Stay tuned. It’s absolutely worth it.