Mystery of half-billion year old creature with no anus solved

[Eugene]

Related: Saccorhytus is an early ecdysozoan and not the earliest deuterostome (Nature)

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Source: BBC

Mystery of half-billion year old creature with no anus solved

By Victoria Gill
Science correspondent, BBC News

18 August 2022

Scientists say they have solved an evolutionary mystery involving a 500 million-year-old microscopic, spiny creature with a mouth but no anus.

When it was discovered in 2017, it was reported that the tiny fossil of this sack-like marine beast could be humans' earliest-known ancestor.

The ancient animal, Saccorhytus coronarius, was tentatively placed into a group called the deuterostomes.

-snip-

A team of researchers in China and the UK carried out a very detailed X-ray analysis of the creature, and concluded that it belongs to a group called the ecdysozoans - ancestors of spiders and insects.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-62580967


Powerful X-ray scanning techniques revealed the 1mm creature in exquisite detail (P Donoghue et al/University of Bristol)


Artist’s reconstruction of Saccorhytus coronarius, based on the original fossil finds. The actual creature was probably no more than a millimetre in size (Cambridge University)


Saccorhytus was a spiky sack-like creature with a mouth, but no anus (P Donoghue et al/University of Bristol)

[sanatanadharma]

1. So, spitting sh*t out through the mouth like maga

This 500 million-year old tiny fossil of a microscopic, sack-like spiny, marine creature with a mouth but no anus could be some humans' earliest-known ancestor.

Thus evidence of the origin of maga, spewing crap from the mouth.

[moniss]

2. That's all well and good

but on the opposite end of the matter (pun intended) there is a huge orange creature found in Florida that is all anus.

[Javaman]

3. I think this is a proto republican...

"this whole group did not have an anus"

"perhaps it didn't need one because it could just sit in one spot with one opening for everything."

[Wicked Blue]

4. lol

[Chainfire]

5. And, low and behold, here, a half a billion years later we have a former president

that is all mouth and anus.