JOURNAL ARTICLE

Ancient animal may actually be algae.

  • Published In: Science News, 2023, v. 203, n. 7. P. 14 1 of 3

  • Database: Academic Search Ultimate 2 of 3

  • Authored By: PERKINS, SID 3 of 3

Abstract

News A species that lived about 520 million years ago and was thought to be the oldest known bryozoan is instead a type of colony-forming algae, a new study proposes. The leaflike flanges described by Smith and colleagues could just as easily be interpreted as body parts of individual animals in the bryozoan colony, says invertebrate paleontologist Paul Taylor of London's Natural History Museum. Because the tentacles that bryozoans use to snatch prey from the water are made of soft tissue and typically don't preserve well, their absence from the new fossils is not at all surprising, Taylor says. [Extracted from the article]

Additional Information

  • Source:Science News. 2023/04, Vol. 203, Issue 7, p14
  • Document Type:Article
  • Subject Area:Zoology
  • Publication Date:2023
  • ISSN:0036-8423
  • Accession Number:162611350
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