500 Million-Year-Old Fossils Mistakenly Identified; Remains Not From an Aquatic Animal but Seaweeds

A case of mistaken identity was what a new study discovered after reexamining fossils found 500 million years ago. Initially, they thought the remains were from an animal. However, the latest research suggests that the remains were from seaweeds.

500 Million-Year-Old Fossils Misidentified

A new study made another look at Protomelission gateshousei fossils, which were thought to represent the oldest remnants of bryozoans on records. According to Science Direct, bryozoans are among the most commonly encountered animals that attach to submerged surfaces in freshwater. They consume organic particles.

However, the new study had a new conclusion. It also changes the current knowledge about the evolution of bryozoans.

Paleontologist Martin Smith, from Durham University in the UK, said they think of the Cambrian explosion as a unique period in evolutionary history, where the blueprints of animal life were mapped out. Most subsequent evolution, according to Science Alert.

Most future evolution amounts to minor alterations to these initial body layouts.

Life's destiny might not have been predetermined half a billion years ago if the bryozoans were to evolve beyond the Cambrian period, which would demonstrate that evolution maintained its creative edge after this pivotal age of innovation.

Apart from the group of P. gateshousei fossils identified as bryozoans, the researchers analyzed microscopic P. gateshousei fossils found in the hills of southern China and discovered previously unknown evidence of soft parts in their samples.

The new information, along with the absence of indications of an external membrane in the other fossil samples, suggests that these fossils are more closely related to a class of green algae called Dasycladales.

ALSO READ: Sharks Fossil From China Sheds Light on Human Evolution

Additionally, it can help them understand the Cambrian explosion better since it suggests that these algae may have had a more significant impact than previously thought on the period's sharp rise in biodiversity.

Paleontologist Zhang Xiguang from Yunnan University in China believed that the new material exposed what was living inside these chambers in contrast to earlier fossils, which maintained the skeletal framework of these early animals.

They realized they were looking at fossil seaweeds rather than prehistoric animals when they found simple leaf-like flanges instead of tentacles, which they expected to see in bryozoans.

Seaweeds or Bryozoans?

The Ordovician, roughly 40 million years after the fossils were discovered, is when the earliest bryozoan fossils that scientists are more particular about first occur.

The enigmatic case of the missing bryozoan fossils has been reopened. They were wondering why this species was the only one in its class that did not participate in one of the most unexpected resurgences of life in the history of organisms.

The researchers consider that they might not have identified the correct cues yet, which is one possible explanation. The earliest bryozoans likely had softer sections, suggesting that throughout their evolution's early phases, they wouldn't have left behind fossils.

Although a growing number of Cambrian fossils display characteristics that might be reconciled with a bryozoan affinity, the researchers write that based on currently available material, no taxon can be interpreted with sufficient certainty to document a pre-Ordovician origin of Bryozoa.

The study was published in Nature.