A discovery in Australia’s Nilpina Ediacara National Park has revealed the oldest asymmetric animal, the Quaestio simpsonorum. The creature, which lived about 555 million years ago, resembled a tiny marine vacuum cleaner, crawling along the ocean floor and feeding on tiny algae and bacteria. What sets Quaestio apart is a retrograde question mark-sized protrusion on its back, which marks an important milestone in the evolution of more complex life forms. The researchers There has long been great interest in the Ediacaran period, which spanned from 635 to 541 million years ago. This was before the Cambrian explosion – a time when life on Earth diversified dramatically. The fossils of Quaestio were discovered in South Australia, where many early complex animal fossils have been found.
According to Scott Evans, a biologist at Florida State University and lead author of a study published in the journal Evolution and Development, the animal’s unique shape provides insight into how early life evolved. “The animal’s backward question mark shape clearly separates the left and right sides, which we haven’t seen in other fossils from this period,” he explained.
Movement on the ocean floor
Even more interestingly, the Quaestio was potentially mobile. Fossilized tracks found behind one of the specimens suggest it may have glided across the ocean floor, actively feeding on microorganisms. Mary Drosser, a biologist at the University of California, Riverside and co-author of the study, noted the significance of the discovery and said it offered an important insight into the evolution of life on Earth.
The asymmetric features of Quaestio simpsonorum are important for understanding how more complex organisms emerged over time. This ancient creature sheds light on an important moment in evolutionary history, giving us a view of the developmental process that led to the diversity of life we see today. As researchers continue to study these fascinating fossils, they hope to uncover more secrets about the origins of animal life on our planet.
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