(ORDO NEWS) — In 2017, our family tree got a little taller as an international team of scientists discovered the well-preserved fossils of a primitive sea creature they say is the oldest known ancestor of a wide range of animals, including humans.
The microscopic creature, named Saccorhytus because of its sac-like body, lived in the early Cambrian period about 540 million years ago.
Saccorhytus would have been only about a millimeter long and would have lived between grains of sand on the seafloor. To the naked eye, fossils found in central China looked like dark spots in limestone.
However, important details could be seen under an electron microscope: the creatures were bilaterally symmetrical, with a single large opening dominating the body, which was probably used for both food and excretion of waste (the researchers found no evidence of an anus).
The covering of the creature’s body was likely thin and flexible, suggesting that it could move by writhing or shortening movements.
Around the central hole are several small holes, which, as the researchers suggest, could turn into gills.
Researchers believe that Saccorhytus is the earliest known member of a broad group of animals called deuterostomes, which includes chordates (a group that, in turn, includes all vertebrates – and therefore you and me) and echinoderms.
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