Oldest Organism With Skeleton Discovered in Australia

[n2doc]

ScienceDaily (Mar. 8, 2012) — A team of paleontologists has discovered the oldest animal with a skeleton. Called Coronacollina acula, the organism is between 560 million and 550 million years old, which places it in the Ediacaran period, before the explosion of life and diversification of organisms took place on Earth in the Cambrian.

The finding provides insight into the evolution of life -- particularly, early life -- on the planet, why animals go extinct, and how organisms respond to environmental changes. The discovery also can help scientists recognize life elsewhere in the universe.

The Ediacaran Period, named after the Ediacara Hills of South Australia, ranges 630-542 million years ago. The Cambrian Period, marked by a rapid diversification of life-forms on Earth as well as the rise of mineralized organisms, ranges 542-488 million years ago.

The best Coronacollina specimens showing the main body with articulated spicules. Specimens originate from different field localities. Arrows indicate main body of Coronacollina. White/black bars indicate 1 cm. A, C, D and E are photographs of fossil impressions in the rock. B and F are latex casts showing how the fossils would have looked in life, after compression. Image credit: Droser lab, UC Riverside.

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http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120308120105.htm

[snagglepuss]

1. I never ceased to be stunned when I read how just one period in Earth's past

lasted 140 million years and that was a period before complex life forms. A million years is hard to fathom 140 million is beyond comprehension. That said do paleontologists believe that Coronacollina lived through-out that period?

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. No, this is newly discovered, so they're not saying it covers a whole period

just that the examples they have are from a 10 million period - 560-550 million years ago.

FWIW, '140 million years' appears to be the (rough) total of the Ediacaran and Cambrian Periods, being about 90 and 55 million years respectively.

[Occulus]

3. This joke about Barbara Bush wrote itself.