After a heavy summer downpour in Arizona, reports of a "dinosaur shrimp" discovery have spread, identifying the new find as "Triops," tadpole-size creatures.
According to officials at Wupatki National Monument, a Live Science report said that hundreds of unusual, prehistoric critters appeared from tiny eggs and started to swim around a temporary lake on the desert landscape.
Lead interpretation ranger Lauren Carter from Wupatki National Monument said the tiny creatures look like small mini-horseshoe crabs with three eyes.
The Central Michigan University said the dinosaur shrimps' eggs could lay dormant for several decades in the desert until adequate rain falls to make lakes that provide habitat and time for the maturity of the hatchlings and later lay eggs for the next generation.
Triops' Unusual Appearances
Appearances of the Triops are unusual when tourists reported that they saw the at a provisional, rain-filled lake within the ceremonial ball court of the monument, a circular walled structure about 32 meters across, the staff of the monument was unsure what to make of the tiny discoveries.
Carter explained that after a monsoon during the latter part of July, they knew that "there was water in the ball court," although they didn't expect anything living in it. Then, a tourist came up and said there were tadpoles down in the ball court.
Initially, the lead interpretation ranger wondered if toads, living in underground burrows during the dry season, had arisen during the wet spell to lay eggs.
To investigate further, Carter went to the ball court, which was originally constructed by the indigenous people at Wupatki.
She continued, saying she just scooped the creature up with her hands and looked at it and elaborated she had no idea. She felt an inkling of familiarity, though, as had worked before at Petrified Forest National Park in northeastern Arizona, and remembered reports of Triops in the area.
Crustacean with 3 Eyes
A Greek term for "three eyes," Triops, described in the Triops World site, is at times called "dinosaur shrimp" due to their long evolutionary background.
These crustaceans' ancestors evolved 419 million to 359 million years ago, during the Devonian period, and their emergence has changed very minimally since then, the Central Michigan University stated.
Notably, the dinosaurs did not appear until much later during the Triassic period, which started around 252 million years ago.
Nevertheless, these crustaceans are not the same as their ancestors, and thus, they would not be regarded as living fossils.
In connection to this, Carter said she doesn't like the term "living fossil" as it leads to a misunderstanding with the public that has not changed at all.
"But they have changed," she pointed out and added, these creatures have evolved. It's just that their outward emergence is quite similar to what they were millions of years back.
'Lucky' Creatures
Typically, Flagstaff, Arizona, gets approximately nine inches or 22.0 centimeters of rain each year, according to Carter. In this case, the Triops found at Wupatki National Monument got fortunate with short yet intense rainfall.
Last year, Flagstaff experienced the driest, lowest monsoon summer ever recorded with only four inches or 10.2 centimeters of rain. However, in the last week and a half of July this year, the region got an uproar of rain, almost five inches or 12.7 centimeters, a similar CΙnet report specified.
During that time, according to a Central Michigan University description, the eggs of the Triops hatched, and in just a few hours, the little critters possibly started filter feeding.
As in any other crustaceans, they underwent several molts before ultimately maturing in just more than one week.
The dinosaur shrimp appearance was also reported on 12 News's YouTube video below:
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