Fossil hunters find evidence of 555m-year-old human relative
Ikaria wariootia is half the size of a grain of rice and an early example of a bilateral organism
It might not show much of a family resemblance but fossil hunters say a newly discovered creature, that looks like a teardrop-shaped jellybean and is about half the size of a grain of rice, is an early relative of humans and a vast array of other animals.
The team discovered the fossils in rocks in the outback of South Australia that are thought to be at least 555m years old.
The researchers say the diminutive creatures are one of the earliest examples of a bilateral organism – animals with features including a front and a back, a plane of symmetry that results in a left and a right side, and often a gut that opens at each end. Humans, pigs, spiders and butterflies are all bilaterians, but creatures such as jellyfish are not.
Dr Scott Evans, of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and a co-author of the research, said: “The major finding of the paper is that this is possibly the oldest bilaterian yet recognised in the fossil record. Because humans are bilaterians, we can say that this was a very early relative and possibly one of the first on the diverse bilaterian tree of life.”
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/mar/23/fossil-ikaria-wariootia-bilateral-organism-human-relative
This is so cool.........................don't tell the rapture crowd..................
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