500-million-year-old mollusk identified
Clever, tiny squid roamed pre-dinosaur seas
http://msnbcmedia3.msn.com.nyud.net:8090/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/100526-carnivore-hmed-1215p.hmedium.jpg© 2009 Marianne Collins
The ancient mollusk pushes back the origin of
cephalopods, which includes modern squids, by
at least 30 million years, making them one of
the longest lasting and successful animal
groups on the planet.
By Jennifer Viegas
updated 1 hour, 17 minutes ago
A newly identified, 500-million-year-old squid-like creature looked like a cross between a shrimp and a cartoon alien, but it was actually one of the world's oldest and most primitive cephalopods.
The ancient mollusk, Nectocaris pteryx, pushes back the origin of cephalopods, which includes modern squids, octopuses and cuttlefish, by at least 30 million years, making them one of the longest lasting and successful animal groups on the planet.
"The cephalopods are certainly a fascinating and important group of mollusks, and the deep roots of the taxon show that they were an important component of the earliest known complex animal ecosystems," Martin Smith, co-author of the study published in the journal Nature, told Discovery News.
"Modern cephalopods display a quite astonishing intelligence, and I like to think that Nectocaris may have been the smartest critter in the Cambrian sea," added Smith, a paleobiologist at the Royal Ontario Museum's Department of Natural History.
More:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37362048/ns/technology_and_science-science/
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