Ainiktozoon

Ainiktozoon loganense is an enigmatic fossil organism from the Silurian of Scotland.[1] Originally described as an early chordate,[2] recent studies suggest that it was in fact an arthropod, more precisely a thylacocephalid crustacean.[3]

Ainiktozoon loganense
Temporal range: Ludlow
↓
Artist's reconstruction
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Subphylum:
Crustacea
Class:
Thylacocephala
Order:
Concavicarida
Genus:
Ainiktozoon

Scourfield, 1937
Species:
A. loganense
Binomial name
Ainiktozoon loganense
Scourfield, 1937

A. loganense is known from a number of specimens from Silurian rocks (Ludlow series) at Lesmahagow in Scotland.[3]

Etymology

The generic name Ainiktozoon is Greek for "enigmatic animal", from αἰνικτός (aíniktós, "riddling, enigmatical").[2]

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References
  1. A. Ritchie (1985). "Ainiktozoon loganense Scourfield, a protochordate? from the Silurian of Scotland". Alcheringa. 9 (2): 117–142. doi:10.1080/03115518508618961.
  2. D. J. Scourfield (1937). "An anomalous fossil organism, possibly a new type of chordate, from the Upper Silurian of Lesmahagow, Lanarkshire – Ainiktozoon loganense, gen. et sp. nov". Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 121 (825): 533–547. doi:10.1098/rspb.1937.0001.
  3. Wim van der Brugghen, Frederick R. Schram & David M. Martill (1997). "The fossil Ainiktozoon is an arthropod" (PDF). Nature. 385 (6617): 589–590. doi:10.1038/385589a0.


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