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trailmonkee

(2,681 posts) Thu Feb 28, 2013, 01:40 AM Feb 2013

Found, Extraordinarily Preserved Fossil of a 520-million-year-old creature (one of earliest found)

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Scientists have unearthed extraordinarily preserved fossils of a 520-million-year-old sea creature, one of the earliest animal fossils ever found, according to a new study.

The fossilized animal, an arthropod called a fuxhianhuiid, has primitive limbs under its head, as well as the earliest example of a nervous system that extended past the head. The primitive creature may have used the limbs to push food into its mouth as it crept across the seafloor. The limbs may shed light on the evolutionary history of arthropods, which include crustaceans and insects.

"Since biologists rely heavily on organization of head appendages to classify arthropod groups, such as insects and spiders, our study provides a crucial reference point for reconstructing the evolutionary history and relationships of the most diverse and abundant animals on Earth," said study co-author Javier Ortega-Hernández, an earth scientist at the University of Cambridge, in a statement.

"This is as early as we can currently see into arthropod limb development."

The findings were published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

The fuxhianhuiid lived nearly 50 million years before animals first emerged from the sea onto land, during the early part of the Cambrian explosion, when simple multicellular organisms rapidly evolved into complex sea life.

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Found, Extraordinarily Preserved Fossil of a 520-million-year-old creature (one of earliest found) (Original Post) trailmonkee Feb 2013 OP

According To The Fundamentalists It Is Only 6000 Years Old. The Bible Says So. TheMastersNemesis Feb 2013 #1

Actually, they are saying it's the image of Our Lord Jesus Christ kenny blankenship Feb 2013 #6

Ha. nc4bo Feb 2013 #9

It's CTHULHU!! progressoid Feb 2013 #12

pretty close trailmonkee Feb 2013 #14

"I gotta go to the can, man" BlancheSplanchnik Feb 2013 #19

Flying Spaghetti Monster. Hissyspit Feb 2013 #15

Exactly! H2O Man Feb 2013 #27

You forgot to mention that it survived a great flood sufrommich Feb 2013 #28

That's amazing preservation. It can be ablated for a 3-dimensional analysis. slackmaster Feb 2013 #2

k and r--thank you for posting niyad Feb 2013 #3

I'll bet they taste like shrimp. hunter Feb 2013 #4

I think I may have seen one in my salad the other day... and it wasn't a shrimp salad trailmonkee Feb 2013 #5

It looks like a giant shrimp. Or a Ginormous Prawn. n/t susanna Feb 2013 #16

tastes like chicken? MFM008 Feb 2013 #7

Fascinating! cbrer Feb 2013 #8

. CreekDog Feb 2013 #10

took you long enough :) trailmonkee Feb 2013 #11

Fascinating! Hekate Feb 2013 #13

They had them for the Last Supper.. ErikJ Feb 2013 #17

AIG PNW_Dem Feb 2013 #18

For God's sake (pun fully intended) go west young man Feb 2013 #20

Dude, it's smiling at me... make it stop! AtheistCrusader Feb 2013 #21

Where are the guys who operate it? Morning Dew Feb 2013 #22

Faux and friends was debunking it this morning ffr Feb 2013 #23

Honestly, I think it's in very poor taste that they dig up the body of Javaman Feb 2013 #24

Oh, noes!!! chervilant Feb 2013 #25

Beautiful. Thanks for posting this. Autumn Feb 2013 #26

I think I've seen this animal rendered in animation on Discovery or NatGeo ChisolmTrailDem Feb 2013 #29

Damn that is cool! MuseRider Feb 2013 #30

TheMastersNemesis

(10,602 posts)

1. According To The Fundamentalists It Is Only 6000 Years Old. The Bible Says So.