sponges
Have we found the earliest evidence of animal life at 890 million years ago?
Convergent evolution: Our most distant relatives were sponges, not comb jellies, say researchers
Remarkable Antarctic life find on rock far beneath ice shelf
The fossils that don’t fit in the Cambrian
Are our claimed most distant ancestors sponges or comb jellies?
Ernst Haeckel studied sponges to demonstrate “a universe devoid of supernatural beings or purpose”
Sponges really are older than comb jellies, researchers say
Oldest evidence for animals found at 635 mya
Instead of looking for fossil at that age, the researchers looked for biomarkers: Rather than searching for conventional body fossils, the researchers have been tracking molecular signs of animal life, called biomarkers, as far back as 660-635 million years ago during the Neoproterozoic Era. In ancient rocks and oils from Oman, Siberia, and India, they found a steroid compound produced only by sponges, which are among the earliest forms of animal life. “Molecular fossils are important for tracking early animals since the first sponges were probably very small, did not contain a skeleton, and did not leave a well-preserved or easily recognizable body fossil record,” Zumberge said. “We have been looking for distinctive and stable biomarkers that indicate the existence of sponges Read More ›