{"id":115621,"date":"2024-08-16T15:39:07","date_gmt":"2024-08-16T15:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/08\/16\/this-spiky-fossil-shows-what-early-mollusks-looked-like\/"},"modified":"2024-08-16T15:39:07","modified_gmt":"2024-08-16T15:39:07","slug":"this-spiky-fossil-shows-what-early-mollusks-looked-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/08\/16\/this-spiky-fossil-shows-what-early-mollusks-looked-like\/","title":{"rendered":"This spiky fossil shows what early mollusks looked like"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><\/div> \r\n<br><div>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"rich-text rich-text--with-sidebar single__rich-text___RmCDp\" data-component=\"video-embed\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\n\n\n\n<p>An animal that could be mistaken for a spiky fruit is giving scientists a peek into what mollusks looked like around 500 million years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fossils of an ancient invertebrate dubbed <em>Shishania aculeata <\/em>show that the animal was a sluglike creature covered in prickly armor, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/10.1126\/science.ado0059\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/10.1126\/science.ado0059\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">researchers report<\/a> in the Aug. 2 <em>Science<\/em>. The find bolsters evidence suggesting that early mollusks <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/article\/ancient-worm-evolution-missing-link\">lacked shells and were covered in spikes<\/a> made of chitin, a fibrous material found in present-day crab and other mollusk shells (<em>SN: 10\/13\/22<\/em>).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n<aside class=\"sn-conversion rich-text rich-text--with-sidebar\">\n<style><![CDATA[\n.email-conversion {\n  border: 1px solid #ffcccb;\n  color: white;\n  margin-top: 50px;\n  background-image: url(\"\/wp-content\/themes\/sciencenews\/client\/src\/images\/cta-module@2x.jpg\");\n  padding: 20px;\n  clear: both;\n}\n\n]]><\/style>\n\n\n\n                        <style class=\"is-layout-flow 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unset);line-height:unset;margin:unset;padding:unset;border:unset;background:unset;&:hover, &:focus-visible {\n            border: unset;\n            background: unset;\n        }}.zephr-form-disabled-div{pointer-events:none;opacity:0.8}.zephr-form-relative-container{position:relative}.zephr-form-flex-container{display:flex}.zephr-form-input-inner-button{cursor:pointer;position:absolute;top:50%;transform:translateY(-50%);right:5px;padding:10px 5px}.zephr-form-input-inner-text{color:var(--zephr-color-text-main);font-size:var(--zf-subtext-fontSize);font-weight:bold;font-family:var(--zf-root-fontFamily)}\n]]><\/style>\n                        \n                        <style><![CDATA[.zephr-form-max-width.zephr-payment-form-max-width {\n    background-image: url(https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/wp-content\/themes\/sciencenews\/client\/src\/images\/cta-module@2x.jpg);\n    padding:20px;\n    max-width: 100%;\n}\n\n.zephr-form-custom-text > p {\n    display: none;\n}\n\nform.zephr-form-content {\n    opacity: .9;\n}\n\nlabel.zephr-form-checkbox-label {\n    font-size: 1.2rem;\n    font-weight: bolder;\n}\n\n.zephr-form-custom-text > h4 {\n    color: black !important;\n}\n\nbutton.zephr-form-button {\n    background: #d4441f !important;\n    font-weight: bold !important;\n    text-transform: uppercase !important;\n}\n\nlabel.zephr-payment-form-checkbox-label {\n    color: white;\n    font-size: 1.6rem;\n}\n\n.zephr-form-content {\n    background:#2f537f;\n    \n}\n\n.zephr-payment-form-custom-text {\n    margin-top: .2rem;\n}\n\n.zephr-payment-form-checkbox-label {\n    display: flex;\n    align-items: center;\n    font-family: var(--zephr-typography-body-font), var(--zephr-typography-body-fallbackFont);\n    color: white;\n    font-weight: bold;\n}]]><\/style>\n                        \n                        \n<\/aside>\n\n\n<p>Today\u2019s mollusks are an incredibly diverse group of animals, says paleobiologist Xiaoya Ma of Yunnan University in China. With living species as different as clams and octopuses, it\u2019s tough to find common traits that indicate what the group\u2019s earliest ancestors looked like. But \u201cfossils can often provide unique and direct evidence\u201d for how early mollusks appeared, Ma says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The fossils, which were uncovered in China, date to around 510 million years ago following an early Cambrian period when there was a rapid burst of evolution for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/archive\/fossils-widen-range-biological-burst\">mollusk ancestors<\/a> (<em>SN: 6\/11\/94<\/em>). Ma and colleagues examined a total of 18 specimens, ranging in size roughly from 1 to 6 centimeters long. Each specimen was \u201cnot always beautiful,\u201d Ma says. Soft tissues like those in <em>S. aculeata<\/em>\u2019s body don\u2019t fossilize well. \u201cBut they preserved or compressed from different angles \u2026 [which] helps us put a jigsaw [puzzle] together to reconstruct the animal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><span class=\"caption wp-caption-3142321\">This artist reconstruction of <em>S. aculeata<\/em> shows how the mollusk would have looked in life as viewed from the top, side and bottom (left to right). The dark spot in the righthand image shows the position of the mollusk\u2019s foot that would have helped it move across the ocean floor.<\/span><span class=\"credit wp-credit-3142321\">M. Cawthorne<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>S. aculeata<\/em>\u2019s base is flat, with a singular foot. This mollusk characteristic helps the animals scooch across the ground or dig into soft sediments. What\u2019s more, the hollow chitin cones that make the organism resemble a durian fruit on the outside are filled with narrow canals that are \u201cspectacular and extremely rare,\u201d Ma says. These canals are similar to those found in the exoskeletons of extinct and living worms and brachiopods, suggesting a common origin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\t\t\t<\/div> <!-- \/.rich-text -->\n\t\t\t\n<footer class=\"article-footer__wrapper___eChRS article-footer__with-sidebar___9oDuK\">\n\t\t\t<p class=\"article-footer__feedback___sNXjz\">Questions or comments on this article? E-mail us at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/article\/mailto:feedback@sciencenews.org\">feedback@sciencenews.org<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/permission-republish\">Reprints FAQ<\/a><\/p>\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n<div class=\"author-bio__wrapper___ODe-4\">\n\t\t\t<figure class=\"author-bio__figure___e3jd0\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"author-bio__thumbnail___TixlC\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/author\/erin-garcia-de-jesus\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\">\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"214\" height=\"214\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sciencenews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/e_garcia-de-jesus.jpg?resize=214%2C214&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-avatar size-avatar\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sciencenews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/e_garcia-de-jesus.jpg?w=500&amp;ssl=1 500w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sciencenews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/e_garcia-de-jesus.jpg?resize=186%2C186&amp;ssl=1 186w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sciencenews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/e_garcia-de-jesus.jpg?resize=383%2C383&amp;ssl=1 383w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sciencenews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/e_garcia-de-jesus.jpg?resize=450%2C450&amp;ssl=1 450w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sciencenews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/e_garcia-de-jesus.jpg?resize=214%2C214&amp;ssl=1 214w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 214px) 100vw, 214px\" data-attachment-id=\"3001356\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/e_garcia-de-jesus\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sciencenews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/e_garcia-de-jesus.jpg?fit=500%2C500&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"500,500\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"e_garcia-de-jesus\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sciencenews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/e_garcia-de-jesus.jpg?fit=383%2C383&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sciencenews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/e_garcia-de-jesus.jpg?fit=450%2C450&amp;ssl=1\"\/>\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\n\t<div class=\"author-bio__content___F9GU3\">\n\t\t\n\n\t\t<div class=\"author-bio__bio___jkxvt\">\n\t\t\t<p>Erin I. Garcia de Jesus is a staff writer at <i>Science News<\/i>. She holds a Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Washington and a master\u2019s in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t<aside class=\"sn-conversion rich-text rich-text--with-sidebar\">\n<style><![CDATA[\n.donate-box {\n  border-top: 7px solid red !important;\n  border: 1px solid #ffcccb;\n  margin-top: 50px;\n  background-color: #fdfbf2;\n  padding: 20px;\n}\n.from-nature-index__heading___AhgOe {\n  display: none;\n}\n]]><\/style>\n\n\n\n<style><![CDATA[.from-nature-index__heading___AhgOe {\n    display: none;\n}]]><\/style><div id=\"donateConversion\" class=\"wp-block-group donate-box\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\" style=\"font-size:1.1em\">\nWe are at a critical time and <strong><mark>supporting science journalism \nis more important than ever<\/mark><\/strong>. <em>Science News<\/em> and our \nparent organization, the Society for Science, need your help to strengthen \nscientific literacy and ensure that important societal decisions are made \nwith science in mind.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\" style=\"font-size:1.1em\">\nPlease \n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/subscribe1-print-digital?key=9MENDCON&amp;utm_source=end-of-article&amp;utm_medium=site&amp;utm_campaign=non-sub-control\">\nsubscribe to <em>Science News<\/em> and <strong>add $16<\/strong><\/a> to expand \nscience literacy and understanding.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/aside><\/footer>\n\t\t<\/div>\r\n<br>\r\n<br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencenews.org\/article\/fossil-mollusks-origin-evolution\">Source link <\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An animal that could be mistaken for a spiky fruit is giving scientists a peek into what mollusks looked like around 500 million years ago. Fossils of an ancient invertebrate dubbed Shishania aculeata show that the animal was a sluglike creature covered in prickly armor, researchers report in the Aug. 2 Science. The find bolsters [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":115622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sciencenews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/080724_eg_mollusk_inline.jpg?resize=680%2C336&ssl=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[606],"tags":[1402,14848,11405,94644,1116,94643],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115621"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115621"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115623,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115621\/revisions\/115623"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}