A fossil unearthed in central Montana, USA of a species named Syllipsimopodi bideni represents the oldest-known relative of today’s octopuses.
- It was originally discovered in Montana and donated to Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in 1988.
- Unlike other octopus species dwelling in the world’s oceans, which have eight arms, the species boasts 10 arms, with two being twice as long as the other eight.
- Syllipsimopodi bideni is the only known vampyropod to retain the ancestral ten-arm condition.
- Researchers named it Syllipsimopodi bideni, as in US President Biden, to commemorate the start of his presidency and because they were encouraged by his plans to address climate change and to fund scientific research.
- Modern squids and cuttlefish have 10 arms and octopuses have eight. Vampire squids (which are not squids but close relatives of octopuses) have 8 arms and 2 stringy filaments, thought to be vestigial arms.
- So the 10-armed Syllipsimopodi bideni shows that all cephalopods once had 10 arms, before they were reduced to filaments and ultimately lost.
About Vampyropods
- Vampyropods are soft-bodied cephalopods typically characterized by eight arms and an internalized chitinous shell or fin supports.
- Because they lack hard structures, Vampyropoda are not well represented in the fossil record.
(Reference: Christopher D. Whalen, Neil H. Landman. Fossil coleoid cephalopod from the Mississippian Bear Gulch Lagerstätte sheds light on early vampyropod evolution. Nature Communications, Mar. 8, 2022; DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-28333-5)
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