Aquilonifer

Aquilonifer spinosus is an extinct species of arthropod from the Silurian period. It is known from a single fossil specimen found in the Wenlock Series Lagerstätte of Herefordshire, England, in rocks about 430 million years old. The 1 cm long specimen is a stem-group mandibulate, not directly related to any living species. The many-legged, eyeless adult has ten unusual tethered appendages, interpreted as juveniles attached to the parent, in a unique form and previously unknown brooding behaviour.

Contents

• Aquilonifer spinosus the kite runner arthropod
• The kite runner fossil aquilonifer spinosus
• References

"Aquilone" is Italian for "toy kite", and the suffix "–ifer" means "to carry". "Spinosus" means "spiny" in Latin. Its discoverers have nicknamed it "the kite runner".