The oldest species of 'vampire squid' is named after US President Joe Biden

Analysis of 328 million-year-old fossils from the US reveals a previously unknown species of vampire squid with up to 10 tentacles.

In the study, published in the journal Nature Communications on March 8, the scientists named the new species Syllipsimopodi bideni. The creature's fossils were found at the Bear Gulch limestone site in Fergus County, Montana, USA, then donated to the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada in 1988, but have only recently been examined in detail. by Yale University and the American Museum of Natural History.

Simulation of the squid Syllipsimopodi bideni.

Analysis shows that Syllipsimopodi bideni lived during the Carboniferous Age about 328 million years ago, making it the oldest known vampire squid on Earth, 82 million years earlier than the old record holder. .

The fossil, which is only a few centimeters long, reveals that Syllipsimopodi bideni had a rigid internal body with 10 sucker-bearing arms (or tentacles), two of which grew longer than the rest.

"This is the first and only vampire squid with 10 functional appendages," said paleontologist Christopher Whalen at the American Museum of Natural History. The study's lead author further notes that all previously reported species of vampyropoda - including the octopus and the vampire squid - have eight tentacles.

The number of functional appendages is a feature that distinguishes the superorder Vampyropoda from Decabrachia (which includes the 10-tentacle squid). Therefore, the new discovery is the first evidence to support the hypothesis that all cephalopods descended from an ancestor with 10 appendages.

According to the team, Syllipsimopodi bideni's two longer arms can be used to capture prey, while the eight shorter arms are used to grasp and control it. Like modern squids, this ancient creature also had fins large enough for balance and swimming.