Extinct "Aliens": Thylacocephala

[@qdaniele97]

They are basically deep-sea submersibles. They have: - Reinforced hull. - "Propellers" on the back. - Mechanical manipulators on the front/underside. - Observation dome on the front.

[@fregtz735]

Kinda, yeah

[@rga1605]

This animal is so bizarre that I thought it was one of your speculative biology videos at first

[@chrisgaming9567]

This was really cool, also cool that the narrator has personally played a role in describing one of the species

[@sizanogreen9900]

wait a second, looking those I was expecting something confined to the early periods of more complex life but those existed until relatively recently! I had no idea they existed at all, really fascinating, it is sad they are no longer around.

[@AssistantCoreAQI]

If They Were Still Around, Humans Would Fry Them.

[@sizanogreen9900]

@@AssistantCoreAQI and maybe they'd be really tasty:)

[@max_punch]

@@sizanogreen9900 they do look kinda tasty ngl

[@AnnoyingNewslettersPage6]

@@max_punch it's like ordering crab and shrimp at the same time.

[@Zedyne]

Such an interesting and unusual shape, unique in its own way. No wonder it is described as 'alien', it is unlike anything else the average man might see.

[@penroc3]

really cool, if i had a time machine i would go back to when the early oceans were like this and drop a camera in, i would NOT be getting in the water.

[@Dedicatedfollower467]

Never heard of these guys before - they're fascinating! Really makes you wonder how many bizarre and highly specialized species you just never learned about...

[@MySerpentine]

We'll never find most of them, either, animals don't actually fossilize that often.

[@Dedicatedfollower467]

@@MySerpentine still one of the things that absolutely boggles my mind... for extinct animal we've catalogued, there's a hundred more that were never preserved...

[@magmacube8689]

I am still waiting for one of these to pop up in the abyssal ocean any second now.

[@SotraEngine4]

This is 100 times more interesting and fascinating than the 100th documentary about lions and t-rexes

[@av0-cad03]

It would be so fascinating to be able to see one in action, swimming around.

[@KrazyKaiser]

You mentioned dragonflies when talking about the creatures vision. I would imagine that, with those huge and powerful eyes and the layout of it's limbs, that it probably would have hunted in a similar fashion to a dragonfly, albeit modified for underwater environments and larger creatures.

[@Musty_Moth]

I wonder how many people would be willing to go to the ocean as a vacation had these badass water mantises gone on to become the apex predators of the ocean

[@zipperman1448]

What strange and beautiful animals. Thank you for bringing them to light! Would love to see more of Extinct "Aliens".

[@scvnthorpe__]

Hold the fuck up Barnacles. Are. Crustaceans. This is why I love cladistics, pure chaos

[@Ditidos]

Interesting critters, I have never heard of them but I think I have seen them in the background of paleoart pieces from time to time. For the looks of it, the first comparison I made is an unmanned submarine with grasping claws. They are very strange creatures indeed, and very alien looking.

[@AnnoyingNewslettersPage6]

That chordate reconstruction looks like the back end of a Stegosaurus swam off to become its own species. 😂

[@elennapointer701]

One thing I don't get about these little guys: where's the digestive system? Everything in it seems designed for swimming or grasping, but there doesn't look to be any sort of room needed for food intake/waste ejection in any of the ones I've seen. Are we sure this isn't another Anomalocaris situation, where the mysterious "shrimp" turned out to be the appendage of a larger creature?

[@cleanerben9636]

Such a successful group of animals! I wonder if, somewhere in the deep, there are still some of them clinging on.

[@markguyton2868]

By your description of the biology, it was a sentient torpedo? Jokes aside, interesting creature and describing fossils looks like a pain in the neck.

[@jdmammoth62]

Never realized oven mitts were an extinct group of species.

[@macroglossumstellatarum5932]

Finally an informative summary about Thylocephalians. It's so hard to find even general stuff about them. I'm really glad my (non-professional) instinct that Ainiktozoon was squashed out of its shell during fossilisation seems correct. It happened with so many other arthropods, like the former Erjiecaris. Kinda bummed that Ostenocaris doesn't have the giant bum and tiny eyestalk anymore, but it is how it is.

[@teotlcipactli7530]

Would help to develop really useful submarine drones

[@globin3477]

I still don't understand how those tiny limbs in the back could propel the creature with any great speed. Your reconstruction of Aniktozoon sort of looks like it could get around, but the generalized diagram from the end of the video looks unable to move quickly, and those rear legs remind me more of gills or pleopods than swimming legs.

[@Phrenotopia]

Pleopods are swimming legs. We don't really know how fast Thylacocephalans were, but many small limbs have the same effect as one or few larger paddles.

[@TSBoncompte]

in fairness, ships have even smaller limbs propelling them

[@Phrenotopia]

Also, to add to that: Feathery limbs are actually effective on smaller scales due to the relative viscosity of water at those scales.

[@kingmasterlord]

mantis shrimp have little feather legs that make them pretty fast

[@janegael]

What a treat to watch a video presented by someone who has actually studied the fossil. I hit Subscribe and will enjoy seeing what else you can teach me. :-)

[@petersmythe6462]

It's interesting to compare how different, and how similar, they are to fish and squids.

[@hawkticus_history_corner]

I don't think I've ever seen a creature that looks more like it was ripped out of the Monster Manual

[@Skeptical_Numbat]

Excellent work, thankyou. These critters are such intriguing Arthopods. Definitely a body plan to consider when speculating on the xenobiologic lifeforms existing within the potential oceans below the icy crusts of Europa, Enceladus & Pluto.

[@astk5214]

blimp-crab, blimp-crab.

[@jtktomb8598]

Fascinating review ! So it's convergent in morphology with ostracods ?

[@Phrenotopia]

To some degree, yes, with the main difference being that of scale, which makes it harder to compare and talk of convergences. Scale matters.

[@chir0pter]

Very cool vid, look forward to learning more about these

[@gabrielswerke4079]

This episode was Awmazing!

[@crabman8264]

What if the Thylacocephala didn't have gone extinct? (Sorry for my bad English...).

[@Phrenotopia]

Yeah that could be a nice video idea!

[@samuellima6193]

@@Phrenotopia alternative crustaceans

[@samuellima6193]

BTW, they were wiped out in the KPG extinction event, right?

[@fedoralexandersteeman6672]

@@samuellima6193 Looks like it.

[@crabman8264]

@@samuellima6193 Yes.

[@yog-sothothery5720]

The Thylacocephala look so alien.

[@mals91]

Good video, a greeting for you from Spain.👍

[@Illogical.]

I realize, that this might be a completely diffent subject, but I assume, you will still be interested about the fact, that the skull of a before unknown dinosaur has recently been discovered, and it is currently being transported to denmark. It has not been revealed what the skull looks like yet.

[@robosoup2873]

thank you for this wonderful video. i've been trying to spread the word on these but the name makes it tough... they deserve a common name!! my friends and I have decided to call them Grunglers. Like if you're in the Grungler Gang.

[@Phrenotopia]

You know what? You're right! Though I prefer something more descriptive... What do you think of "Snapdragons"? Maybe I should make a poll...

[@Phrenotopia]

I just found out that Snapdragon is a kind of plant... 😅

[@genericalfishtycoon3853]

@@Phrenotopia Snapdragons were one of my favorite plants as a kid. The seed dispersal mechanism is wicked cool, they burst and go flying at a gentle touch. Subbed by the way! Just found you, excellent channel. I usually really dislike when people use the little cartoon avatars in their videos to talk, but you only did it a little and your content is so good I can totally overlook it. 👍

[@kandyeggs]

This is probably a silly question, but why does Harrycaris have a hole in its carapace?

[@fedoralexandersteeman6672]

It's just the optical notch being enclosed by the rostrum and anteroventral margin of the carapace.

[@Lumberjack_king]

5:54 I just realized how strange those type of fish are even though I've seen them my whole life 😦 there face is so distorted the....eyes

[@tsm688]

large eyes implies large brain... That's not an eyeball after all, that's a compound eye, with all the room inside used for neural switching board and more.

[@flightlesslord2688]

aye these things arent from this planet. Such cool creatures that really show as much as fish are the go to body plan for vertebrates, that doesnt mean every agile swimming animal will appear as such. Such a unique group that is so unknown, hell I completely forgot they lived as late as the Cretaceous, despite being know for so long

[@rbynam9055]

look at what they took from us. i want it back

[@nikolaanicic3944]

Give me back my organic submarine.

[@Good-Win2015]

They looked like... like... uhm... something incredible

[@thylacocephala4108]

I love thylacocephala 😍😍

[@Zorro9129]

The thumbnail made me think this was a fish with legs. Truly weird, and they must have died out in 65 MYA.

[@Illogical.]

Where was its mouth (or whatever type of nutrition intake), and in what way would it have worked? Also the waste excretion part? It seems like there isn't enough space for a mouth capable of eating whatever type of prey it must have had the ability to catch. Or maybe the prey was very soft, and it would first just catch the prey with the big arm things, and and eat it like some types of spider covers its prey in butt string (but instead of covering, it takes small bites), and as the prey gets smaller, it uses the smaller arm things to eat. I don't remember what the arm things are called in english. Also, There are many factors, that determine waste fluidity, but I don't see anywhere the hole(s) for excretion could be located without solid waste being a problem by getting stuck in the propulsion feathers. So that kinda reinforces my idea (idk if it's a theory or hypothesis at this point), that their food was relatively soft. You said something about the digestion organ being just behind the eye(s?) (, and it looked relatively spherical, I assume because of the pressure or something), and I assume, that the mouth must be below there in the opening of the shell. (I do understand, that the shell is a bit like an upside down deformed taco without vegetables) I may have answered most of my questions myself, but it was all just speculation from me, a person, who is nowhere close to being a marine paleontologist. (also, yes, I know web organ hole is seperate, but butt string sounds funnier)

[@dan_asd]

Is this an among us fish

[@Thundernugget]

Amogus crab

[@JohnJohn-yl4ko]

@@Thundernugget money!

[@thorstenkrug144]

Aloha. I really like these cute lil oddballs. Is there a good CT scan where we can see mouth, gut and other inner organs ? And are there any hints of external mouthparts? That would greatly help to determine if they are offshoots of crustaceans or more their own thing. Keep on the good work. Hope to hear more about your research. Please, more input. ;-)

[@Phrenotopia]

Hi there! These groups have been intensively studied by several research teams over the decades and they especially focused on all those diagnostic and other features. However, because Thylaco's by their nature have poorly mineralised skeletons nothing has been found so far that could definitely pin these down to a crustacean or other arthropod group. The most extensive study I found was by Charbonnier et al (2017) that used several techniques to find as many details as possible. Among other things, the putative antennae according to Lange et al (2001), which would have cemented them as crustaceans, was reinterpreted as "optical spines". I will put more details in a followup video. :) doi.org/10.1051/bsgf/2017176

[@Phrenotopia]

And there is this article that actually CT scans a few specimens with interesting, but not conclusive findings. doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-61770-0

[@thorstenkrug144]

@@Phrenotopia Nice. Thanks for the extra Info. I will devour it. 😆

[@GargamelGold]

Phenotopia, Do speculative evolution video on Bigfoot, Yeti, and other “ape men” cryptids

[@0birthya972]

this is real right, not *speculative* biology/evolution??

[@EungsuLee]

Damn those animals sure looked impressive.

[@cro-magnoncarol4017]

These animals look Sus.

[@xenodragomorph]

What if this thing came back what would change? What would happen?

[@qwaeszrdxtfcgvbqwaeszrdxtf5733]

Yay new video :D

[@minoadlawan4583]

Wonder what the basal forms of thede creatures looked liked

[@nathnull8523]

Do we know anything about how the mouth parts looked?

[@10pitate]

to put it simply, no. I could be wrong but I did my research

[@JackTheVulture]

god i love weird little arthropods

[@logansmith2703]

Whoa that ain't from the Cambrian!?! Weird

[@karlcolt]

I think that they are only looking at a PART of this fossil, and not a complete fossil.

[@mothhut8637]

They are simply submarines fit for children.

[@JohnJohn-yl4ko]

I would feed it Sea Monkeys

[@GargamelGold]

Phenotopia, Did you ever do that video on what if dragons were real? I’m not seeing it

[@Jake-ez7mo]

How does this thing eat

[@logangrimnar3800]

It's like a biological robot submarine

[@paulinalevina9690]

How large?

[@powerofanime1]

Dragoncrabs!

[@StormChaserApril]

Been looking for a fossil hunter . Need response asap. There's a squid on Google Earth that has been around for a while now and just came across it. It's over 41 meters long... Here's coordinates. 63°2'56.73″S 60°57'32.38″W got any answers?

[@Phrenotopia]

That's in the sea near Antarctica? I can only see a pixelated island.

[@StormChaserApril]

@@Phrenotopia it's by deception island. People say it's the exact coordinates for a memorial rock there but I say that it may be otherwise even with those coordinates matching a rock. It looks too alive. Many people examined it in 2016 and all narrow it to a rock. I seriously think something that looks as rubbery as that has to be alive. Even with the sea at factor

[@globin3477]

@@StormChaserApril If you want somebody to look at it, you'll need to fund an expedition.

[@Jormungandr633]

Wet sand looks rubbery

[@metoo3342]

What would a squid that large be eating

[@vincentastorga]

Yo update they patched the extinction with the trip fish

[@raphlvlogs271]

they didn't just look like aliens they also look like machines

[@goobertfroobert5572]

Organic submarine Organic submarine

[@crowickedone4037]

Living Submarines

[@peterpzazz2441]

Looking at their characteristics, to me, they look like giant versions of todays daphnia and clam shrimps.

[@ginger_toggaf]

not crab enough

[@SuperMewKittyKatGaming]

your name is FEDORA?

[@Phrenotopia]

"Fedor A." technically, but yeah... 😅

[@dooompie]

You sound dutch

[@BinLox]

Hi Fedor (cool name)

[@kyoatbites7865]

giant Daphnia

[@ravegerxenomorph2531]

Aliens?

[@Drex_678]

Smash tbh

[@3_14pie]

Sussiacaris...

[@dontmindmyname1234]

not funny

[@itsafish4600]

looks weird af

[@daxxonjabiru428]

gross