American paleontologists from Harvard University have discovered a new species of soft-bodied chordate that lived on Earth during the Cambrian period, approximately 518 million years ago. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine Royal Society Open Science (RSOS).
Experts have found fossils of a previously unknown animal in the Drumian-Marjum Formation in the Great Basin Highlands in Utah.
The new species was named Nuucichthys rhynchocephalus. According to experts, the creature belonged to the early stage of vertebrate evolution. It lived in water and had a long body and a number of characteristic features.
“The first vertebrates developed large eyes and a set of muscles known as the myotome,” said Harvard University researcher Rudy Lerosy-Aubril.
The study of the new species confirmed that, despite its general similarity to ichthyoplankton, Nuucichthys rhynchocephalus is finless and has limited swimming abilities.
Scientists noted that fossils of soft-bodied chordates are so rare because these creatures’ bones are not found and often decay without leaving a trace.
Previously, paleontologists discovered The earliest ancestor of spiders and scorpions.
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Source: Gazeta
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