Massive Chunk Of Gold Found In New York Containing New Species?

A massive chunk of "fools gold" was just discovered in Central New York containing a prehistoric new species.

Walking along the Six Mile Creek just outside of Rome New York you'll find Beecher’s Trilobite Bed. Multiple species of fossilized trilobites, a prehistoric ocean creature, have been found there. According to a study published October 29th in the peer-reviewed journal Current Biology, a new creature has just been found:

The creature had a “large, modified leg (called a ‘great appendage’) at the front of their bodies” and reduced claws with “flexible whip-like flagella at their end,” researchers said in an Oct. 29 news release from the University of Oxford.

“As well as having their beautiful and striking golden color, these fossils are spectacularly preserved,” study author Luke Parry said. “They look as if they could just get up and scuttle away.”

The new species was named Lomankus edgecombei, after researcher Gregory D. Edgecombe. The Miami Herald reports that the name derives from the Greek words “loma,” meaning edge or border, and “ankos,” meaning valley, which comes from the meaning of the name Edgecombe. Paleontologists were examining a piece of fool’s gold from the area when they made the discovery. You can read more online here.

The new fossil belongs to a group called megacheirans, an iconic group of arthropods with a large, modified leg (called a ‘great appendage’) at the front of their bodies that was used to capture prey.

Megacheirans like Lomankus were very diverse during the Cambrian Period (538-485 million years ago) but were thought to be largely extinct by the Ordovician Period (485-443 million years ago)."

How cool is this?