Early Arthropods had Complex Benthic Ecology

In the third publication from the international collaboration between Javier Ortega-Hernández and Prof. Yu Liu, Yunnan University, China, researchers use microCT on Cambroraster, a distant arthropod relative. The study published in Geological Magazine describes the occurrence of Cambroraster whose head's carapace bears an uncanny similarity to horseshoe crabs. This finding represents the second instance of Cambroraster reported worldwide, as well as the oldest, and indicates that these early euarthropods had acquired a complex benthic ecology (ocean floor or the bottom of a lake in the sediment surface) quite early on during their evolutionary history.