Sarah Gabbott
The fossil is particularly notable for preserving all its soft tissues, while the hardest parts decomposed.
A new one published in Papers in Paleontology revealed the discovery of a fossil with 444 million years which has exceptionally preserved soft tissues, offering new perspectives on the first arthropods.
Found in South Africa, this specimen, called Keurbos Susanae( eliminated almost 85% of marine life.
The fossil, nicknamed “Sue”, is one of the rarest findings of his gender, with his interior – including muscles, tendons and viscera – preserved in great detailwhile his carapace, legs and heads decomposed over millions of years.
The discovery was made in the Soom shale, a place known for producing fossils with preserved soft tissues. The research team, led by paleontologist Sarah Gabbott of the University of Leicester, identified the species as a primitive marine arthropod.
However, the preservation “from the inside out” fossil left scientists insecure about their exact evolutionary relationships. Unlike most fossils, who preserve durable parts such as exoskeletons, soft tissues of Sueare remarkably intact, suggesting a Single Preservation Processpossibly linked to the acid and low oxygen environment in which it was buried.
SUE fossilization occurred in an old ocean, where oxygen levels were low and water contained high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide. This environment may have contributed to the preservation of soft tissues, while the most resistant exoskeletons of similar creatures dissolved due to acid conditions, explains the.
The new species, which was baptized in honor of Gabbott’s mother, represents a rare glimpse of life during the event’s extinction event, a period marked by dramatic environmental changes. Despite its extraordinary preservation, the exact position of the fossil in the evolutionary tree remains unclear, since the absence of your shell and members Complicates comparisons with other arthropod species of the same time.
Scientists believe that after 25 years of searching, it seems unlikely to find other specimens of Keurbos Susanae With intact legs or heads, especially since the stone extraction activity burned the original place.
