August 09, 2018
A mysterious, ancient organism with Leaf-like fronds once flourished in shallow waters. Now, after decades of debate as to whether these organisms were fungi, algae, protozoa or even from a lost kingdom of life, new Fossils suggest they were Animals.
Weird, 570-Million-Year-Old Leaf Fossil Is Actually from an Animal
If true, these organisms would be among the first animals in the fossil record, dating back to at least 571 million years ago — the age of the oldest frond fossils. That's about 30 million years before the Cambrian explosion, when many of today's animal groups first burst onto the scene. The date is consistent with other evidence that suggests animals appeared more than 635 million years ago.
The mysterious frond fossils, which have been found around the world, date to the Ediacaran period, which spanned from 635 million to 542 million years ago. The fossilized imprints suggest that the organisms were soft and squishy and that some sported fronds that branched outward like seaweed, study co-author Jennifer Hoyal Cuthill, a paleobiologist at the University of Cambridge in England, wrote on The Conversation. Even 60 years after the discovery of these organisms, researchers still didn't know what these fronds were.
Now, in a paper published Aug. 7 in the journal Paleontology, Cuthill and Jian Han, of Northwest University in Xi'an, China, describe the discovery of 206 fossils of a different animal called Stromatoveris psygmoglena that date to about 518 million years ago, during the Cambrian period. The fossils were found in Chengjiang County in southern China, and they add to the existing collection of eight S. psygmoglena fossils first discovered in 2006.
S. psygmoglena,which also had leaf-like fronds,looked a lot like the older, mysterious Ediacaran fossils. To see how similar they were, Cuthill and Han used a computer to compare the two groups, analyzing their evolutionary relationships and physical features, based on more than 80 photographs of the fossils. They found that both sets of fossils belonged to the same group on the tree of life called Petalonamae— meaning the Ediacaran organisms also had to be animals.
"This means animal species were diversifying well before the Cambrian explosion," Cuthill wrote on The Conversation.
Given that these creatures can be found across tens of millions of years of the fossil record, it's likely Petalonamae were evolutionarily successful. Because the fossil record for the Ediacaran organisms had seemed to disappear by the time the Cambrian began, researchers thought the organisms had gone extinct. But by linking them to Stromatoveris psygmoglena, the new analysis suggests they lived at least through the first 20 million years of the Cambrian.
And the fact that the researchers found more than 200 fossils means they were common. "This indicates that this species was an important member of its shallow marine ecosystem rather than a rare or marginal survivor," Cuthill said in The Conversation article.
Latest News
Top news around the world
Academy Awards

‘Oppenheimer’ Reigns at Oscars With Seven Wins, Including Best Picture and Director

Get the latest news about the 2024 Oscars, including nominations, winners, predictions and red carpet fashion at 96th Academy Awards

Around the World

Celebrity News

> Latest News in Media

Watch It
Olivia Munn Reveals Breast Cancer Diagnosis and Double Mastectomy Procedure | E! News
March 13, 2024
kUaEV1Kd3S0
Travis Kelce Shares Details From His Trip to Singapore With Taylor Swift | E! News
March 13, 2024
3YXi-Dgf4eg
Kate Middleton VIRAL Photo: Agency Addresses Photoshop Claims | E! News
March 13, 2024
S4VkO0TpkCY
Da'Vine Joy Randolph Plays 'Smash or Pass' With Iconic Moments From Her Career
March 13, 2024
vkPdJEF2BX4
Jean Smart Wears a Hotel Bathrobe to Present an Award to Hannah Einbinder l Power of Comedy SxSW
March 12, 2024
Bw7uVEYQev4
Lenny Kravitz Walk of Fame Ceremony
March 12, 2024
MlWq8BcnwhE
Dak Prescott Extortion Plot & Steph Curry for President? | TMZ Sports Full Ep - 3/12/24
March 13, 2024
jHFsrjs7OFY
A Japanese space rocket blew up after takeoff Tuesday, turning the sky into a fireball of smoke.
March 13, 2024
YkfJ3Qg8B7c
#KimKardashian and #BiancaCensori hung out at #KanyeWest's listening party Tuesday night!
March 13, 2024
EfwLLq6bx9k
‘Pioneer Woman’ Ree Drummond denies using Ozempic to lose 60 pounds
March 13, 2024
Omfjk1AlZ3A
Chrissy Teigen reveals her ‘boob lift scars’ in daring dress at Jay-Z & Beyoncé’s Oscars 2024 party
March 13, 2024
VxZ2qXAlpmU
Zoë Kravitz pokes fun at dad Lenny Kravitz's style during Hollywood Walk of Fame speech
March 13, 2024
j3-lcFu_1sQ
TV Schedule
Late Night Show
Watch the latest shows of U.S. top comedians

Sports

Latest sport results, news, videos, interviews and comments
Latest Events
17
Mar
SPAIN: La Liga
Atletico Madrid - Barcelona
17
Mar
ENGLAND: FA Cup
Manchester United - Liverpool
17
Mar
ITALY: Serie A
Inter Milan - Napoli
17
Mar
GERMANY: Bundesliga
Borussia Dortmund - Eintracht Frankfurt
17
Mar
ENGLAND: FA Cup
Chelsea - Leicester City
17
Mar
ITALY: Serie A
Roma - Sassuolo
17
Mar
ITALY: Serie A
Verona - AC Milan
17
Mar
ITALY: Serie A
Juventus - Genoa
17
Mar
GERMANY: Bundesliga
SC Freiburg - Bayer Leverkusen
17
Mar
USA: Major League Soccer
Atlanta United - Orlando City
17
Mar
ENGLAND: Premier League
West Ham United - Aston Villa
17
Mar
SPAIN: La Liga
Rayo Vallecano - Real Betis
17
Mar
ENGLAND: Championship
Leeds - Millwall
17
Mar
SPAIN: La Liga
Las Palmas - Almeria
17
Mar
SPAIN: La Liga
Villarreal - Valencia
17
Mar
SPAIN: La Liga
Sevilla - Celta Vigo
16
Mar
GERMANY: Bundesliga
Darmstadt - Bayern Munich
16
Mar
ENGLAND: FA Cup
Manchester City - Newcastle United
16
Mar
ENGLAND: Premier League
Fulham - Tottenham Hotspur
16
Mar
SPAIN: La Liga
Osasuna - Real Madrid
13
Mar
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: 1/8 Final
Atletico Madrid - Inter Milan
12
Mar
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: 1/8 Final
Barcelona - Napoli
12
Mar
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: 1/8 Final
Arsenal - Porto
11
Mar
ENGLAND: Premier League
Chelsea - Newcastle United
10
Mar
ENGLAND: Premier League
Liverpool - Manchester City
10
Mar
SPAIN: La Liga
Real Madrid - Celta Vigo
10
Mar
ENGLAND: Premier League
Aston Villa - Tottenham Hotspur
10
Mar
ITALY: Serie A
Juventus - Atalanta
10
Mar
ITALY: Serie A
Fiorentina - Roma
10
Mar
ITALY: Serie A
AC Milan - Empoli
09
Mar
GERMANY: Bundesliga
Werder Bremen - Borussia Dortmund
09
Mar
ENGLAND: Premier League
Arsenal - Brentford
09
Mar
ITALY: Serie A
Bologna - Inter Milan
Find us on Instagram
at @feedimo to stay up to date with the latest.
Featured Video You Might Like
zWJ3MxW_HWA L1eLanNeZKg i1XRgbyUtOo -g9Qziqbif8 0vmRhiLHE2U JFCZUoa6MYE UfN5PCF5EUo 2PV55f3-UAg W3y9zuI_F64 -7qCxIccihU pQ9gcOoH9R8 g5MRDEXRk4k
Copyright © 2020 Feedimo. All Rights Reserved.