![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Xiphosuran are anthropods of the Xiphosura order, living and extinct. The only living xiposurans are four species of horseshoe crabs. Horseshoe crabs are called "living fossils" because really they haven't changed since about 250 million years ago (around the early Triassic period). Xiposurans were most prolific and diverse during the Paleozoic Era.
For those that don't know,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
painted_wolf is currently working as a research assistant helping on experiements to study the circatidal and circadian rhythms of locomotion in Limulus polyphemus. Basically that's a fancy way of saying their looking to see how daylight and tidal patterns affect the activities of the horseshoe crab. Aside from being rather cool stuff, it's important because horseshoe crab populations are on the decline and it's possible that information learned from these experiements might be useful in saving the horseshoe crab.
For those that don't know,
painted_wolf is currently working as a research assistant helping on experiements to study the circatidal and circadian rhythms of locomotion in Limulus polyphemus. Basically that's a fancy way of saying their looking to see how daylight and tidal patterns affect the activities of the horseshoe crab. Aside from being rather cool stuff, it's important because horseshoe crab populations are on the decline and it's possible that information learned from these experiements might be useful in saving the horseshoe crab.
