A fossil discovered in Canada reveals new details on the head of Hallucigenia, an enigmatic similar to worms that lived 508 million years ago and is related to modern insects, arachnids and crustaceans creature, according work published today in the journal Nature.
The Hallucigenia, identified in 1977 as an individual organism, had several pairs of extremities and a double row of spines on the back, while up now it was not known what his head.
The discovery in Canada of a new fossil has allowed Martin Smith of the University of Cambridge, and his group conclude that the creature had a small and elongated at the end of a thin neck head.
Scientists have also identified a pair of simple eyes-as opposed to compounds, more evolucionados- a circular mouth and teeth.
The discovery sheds new light on the evolution of modern arthropods, although Hallucigenia is not a direct ancestor of this group, but a “close relative”, he described Efe Smith.
“The Hallucigenia not leave a living descendant. Is part of a group that became extinct in the Cambrian period, “said the researcher, who explained that the creature is an early copy onychophorans lineage, a type of worm with dozens of tips.
In the same issue of the journal Nature, scientists at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington (USA) described the discovery of a fossil of primitive turtle over 240 million years.
The fossil provides new clues about the evolution of turtles and the origin of its shell, which still holds mysteries for science.
The fossilized specimen of about 20 centimeters, is a link between the first ancestors of turtles and modern animals.
The creature, dubbed Pappochelys, no shell and has some broad ribs and bones protectors in the stomach.
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