A tiny arthropod that roamed the Silurian period 430 million years ago had quite the unique mode of brood care. New research from Yale University shows this critter hauled its young around in miniature pouches tethered to its body, earning itself the nickname "The Kite Runner."
"We have named it after the novel by Khalid Hosseini due to the fancied resemblance of the juveniles to kites," explained Derek Briggs, curator of invertebrate paleontology at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History.
Scientifically known as Aquilonifer spinosus, the creature measures less than half of an inch long. Researchers also note that the adult specimen's head is eyeless and covered by a shield-like structure. This creature would have likely lived on the sea floor alongside sponges, snails, worms and other aquatic neighbors of its day.
With only one fossil specimen found in Herefordshire, England, not much else is known about this rather elusive creature.
However, what scientists do know was revealed using virtual reconstruction techniques. They found that the fossil includes 10 little Kite Runners, all tied to their mother by thin, flexible threads and in various stages of development.
"Modern crustaceans employ a variety of strategies to protect their eggs and embryos from predators - attaching them to the limbs, holding them under the carapace, or enclosing them within a special pouch until they are old enough to be released - but this example is unique," Briggs added. "Nothing is known today that attaches the young by threads to its upper surface."
Briggs and his colleagues from Oxford, the University of Leicester and Imperial College London ruled out theories suggesting the juveniles could have been parasites attached to a convenient host, as their method of attachment would not have been very good for accessing nutrients.
Instead, researchers concluded that the thin, flexible threads and pouches were used to postpone molting until the juveniles were old enough to hatch.
"As the parent moved around, the juveniles would have looked like decorations or kites attached to it," Briggs explained. "It shows that arthropods evolved a variety of brooding strategies beyond those around today - perhaps this strategy was less successful and became extinct."
Their study was recently published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
