Cascolus

Cascolus is an extinct genus of stem-mandibulate known from the Coalbrookdale Formation.

Cascolus Temporal range: Homerian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
The digitally reconstructed holotype of Cascolus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Genus:	†Cascolus Siveter et al, 2017
Species:	†C. ravitis
Binomial name
†Cascolus ravitis Siveter et al, 2017

Description

Cascolus is a long, somewhat vermiform arthropod, roughly 9 millimetres long. It has a head segment containing a head shield, stalked eyes and five pairs of limbs, the first similar to megacheirans and the other four biramous with gnathobases, followed by a nine-segmented thorax and two possibly limbless segments near the posterior. The trunk remains similar in size through tergites 1-4, and then decreases in width onwards into the limbless segments.^[1]

Ecology

Cascolus appears to have been a nektobenthic animal, possibly a scavenger.

Etymology

Cascolus was named in honour of Sir David Attenborough. The genus name derives from "castrum" ("stronghold") and "colus" ("dwelling in"), alluding to the Middle or Old English source for the name "Attenborough". The specific name ravitis derives from "Ratae" (the Roman name for Leicester), "vita" ("life") and "commeatis" ("messenger")

Distribution

Cascolus is known from a single specimen from the Silurian Coalbrookdale Formation in England, a diverse Silurian Lagerstatte.

Classification

Cascolus was originally considered as a stem-group phyllocarid.^[1] According to phylogenic analysis in Pulsipher et al. (2022), it is considered as stem-mandibulate instead.^[2]

Arthropoda	†Parioscorpio venator †Cascolus ravitis †Tanazios dokeron †Captopodus poschmanni †Acheronauta stimulapis †Thylacocephala †Occacaris oviformis Myriapoda †Ercaicunia multinodosa †Clypecaris pteroidea †Waptia fieldensis †Perspicaris dictynna †Canadaspis perfecta †Tokummia katalepsis †Branchiocaris pretiosa †Nereocaris exilis †Odaraia alata †Euthycarcinoidea †Fuxianhuiida †Fuxianhuia †Chengjiangocaris †Shankouia Pancrustacea Argulus Ostracoda †Lepidocaris Triops Artemia Remipedia Cephalocarida Hexapoda Multicrustacea	Hymenocarina

See also

• List of things named after David Attenborough and his works