Titanokorys

The genus name refers to the Titans of Greek mythology in combination with the ancient Greek κόρυς (korys = "helmet") and alludes to the unusual size of the central carapace element. The species name "gainesi" honors the American geologist Robert R. Gaines, who was instrumental in the discovery of new fossil deposits in the Burgess Shale in 2012.[1]

The first description of the genus and type species was made in 2021 by Jean-Bernard Caron and Joseph Moysiuk.[1] This study was based on twelve specimens that came from the Marble Canyon area of Tokumm Creek in the northern part of Kootenay National Park in British Columbia.[1] All previously known specimens are kept at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in the Department of Invertebrate Paleontology (ROMIP).[1] Before the animal was named, researchers often nicknamed it the "mothership" or "spaceship" in reference to its massive head looking like a starcraft.[5][6]

Fossils of Titanokorys are known from the Burgess Shale, a famous Lagerstätte from British Columbia dating to around 508 million years ago.[1] Only disarticulated head sclerites, frontal appendages and oral cone (radiodont mouthpart that somewhat resembled a camera aperture[7]) had been discovered.[1] Due to the limited discovery, little is known about the oral cone of Titanokorys, but the tooth plates have smooth surfaces like most other hurdiids.[1] Based on the largest sclerite (measured about 27 cm (11 in)) and ratio inferred from the closely related Cambroraster, the complete animal was estimated to be about 50 cm (20 in) long.[1] Titanokorys is readily dintinguised from other radiodonts by the anterior sclerite (H-element) with trifurcate anterior region and lateral sclerites.[1] The frontal appendages are almost indistinguishable from those of Cambroraster. Which have short podomeres with 5 long endites, each associated with a row of long, densely-packed auxiliary spines.[1] These appendages suggest a specialized “sweep feeding” behaviour that would allow the radiodont to catch and eat both microscopic and macroscopic food.[1] Titanokorys lived alongside other Burgess Shale radiodonts, such as Anomalocaris, Hurdia, and Peytoia.[1] The fact that so many large predatory radiodonts lived together suggests that Cambrian communities at the time were very diverse and could hold many large macro-predators.[1]

Titanokorys is a radiodont belonging to the family Hurdiidae. Hurdiids can be distinguished from other radiodonts by the rake-like frontal appendages which each bore a single row of elongated endites with only anterior auxiliary spines, alongside the combination of enlarged head sclerites and tetraradial mouthparts (oral cone).[4][9][1] Titanokorys was found to form a derived clade with Cordaticaris, Cambroraster[9] and possibly also Zhenghecaris.[1] While Stanleycaris and Schinderhannes were found as the most basal hurdiids.[1]

Like many other hurdiid radiodonts, Titanokorys was most likely a nektobenthic animal that swam slowly above the seabed and sifted through sediments.[1] It is presumed that the animal dug up the sediment with its huge protruding carapace and guided the prey into its mouth with the front appendages to form a cage-like structure.[1][10][6] Since fossils may be preserved together alongside Cambroraster, it is presumed that Titanokorys lived in the same areas as Cambroraster.[1] Titanokorys is a relatively rare find at Marble Canyon, because of this it is thought that this fossil site possibly occurred near the edge of the species range in life.[1]

Based on differences in size, Titanokorys probably escaped competition with Cambroraster by hunting larger prey, thereby exploiting a different ecological niches.[1][10] Aside from Cambroraster, other creatures lived alongside T. gainesi. The fauna in the region included the hymenocarine pancrustaceans such as Tokummia and Balhuticaris, the primitive chordate Metaspriggina, and the isoxyid arthropod Surusicaris.[2][11][4][12][13] Like all stem and total group arthropods, Titanokorys had to shed its outer skin to grow larger.[1] This is evidenced by the holotype specimen (ROMIP 65415) which probably represents a collection of molted remains.[1] Sometimes, fossils of these exuvia are found alongside numerous specimens of the agnostid arthropod genus Peronopsis in the immediate vicinity or directly on the exuvia. Why the arthropods were on the exuvia is unclear, but they could have been eating from the molting residues or grazed on a possible biofilm that was growing on it.[14][1]

• Paleobiota of the Burgess Shale