Buccaspinea

Buccaspinea is an extinct genus of Cambrian hurdiid radiodont from the Marjum Formation, known from frontal appendages and a nearly complete albeit headless specimen with a preserved oral cone.^[1] Buccaspinea was described in January 2021, being the second-most recent hurdiid genus to be described.

Buccaspinea Temporal range: Drumian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Holotype specimen
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Order:	†Radiodonta
Family:	†Hurdiidae
Subfamily:	†Hurdiinae
Genus:	†Buccaspinea Pates et al, 2021
Species:	†B. cooperi
Binomial name
†Buccaspinea cooperi Pates et al, 2021

Etymology

Buccaspinea means "thorn mouth", referring to the large hooked spines on its oral cone. The specific name, cooperi honours Jason Cooper, the discoverer of the specimen.^[1]

Description

Buccaspinea is roughly 10 centimetres long and has large, long-spined appendages seemingly used for capturing benthic prey, as they are not branched for sifting sediment or filter-feeding. Buccaspinea appears to be closely related to Hurdia and Peytoia, sharing many characters with them, for example a lack of inner teeth, weak posterior tapering and many flap-bearing segments. Unusually, it does not seem to have dorsal flaps, a trait unique to it and a few other hurdiids, such as Cambroraster.^[2]