Learning that shiny rocks are fool’s gold, rather than expensive minerals, is a common cause for disappointment. But the material may be considered valuable to scientists who discovered a new 450-million-year-old arthropod preserved in pyrite.
Fossils of ancient arthropods (a group of animals such as spiders, centipedes, and insects) are particularly rare because they are primarily composed of soft tissue and typically begin to decay within a few days of death. By a rare geochemical stroke of luck, the newly discovered species Romanx Edgecomb Bay didn’t rot. The creatures, distant relatives of modern spiders, scorpions and horseshoe crabs, were surprisingly well preserved, one researcher said. report in Current Biology.
“We can see their anatomy almost completely,” he says. luke parryProfessor of Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford and author of the paper. “Fossils like this can tell us a lot about what life on Earth was like hundreds of millions of years ago, especially considering that under normal conditions these animals rotted away into nothingness in a matter of days. And that’s pretty surprising.”
Preservation of ancient arthropods
Preservation in pyrite is “extremely rare,” Parry said, adding that he was “surprised” by how well it was preserved. Romanx It was saved. There are only a handful of similar examples he could cite. They include: Beecher’s Trilobite Bed (upstate New York, the source of new fossils) Devonian Hunsrück tablet In Germany, there are Cambrian fossil sites called. Sumie biota.
It is rare to find ancient fossils preserved by pyrite. Because the process requires certain conditions, such as lack of organic matter, iron, and oxygen. Pyrite is formed by the action of sulfates, which reduce bacteria that decompose organic matter and produce hydrogen sulfide in the absence of oxygen. When iron is also present, hydrogen sulfide reacts with the iron to form pyrite, an iron sulfide.
found team L. Edgecombe Bay It’s essentially a geological bonanza.
“The fossil-bearing deposits were low in organic matter but high in iron, so the animal carcasses were like little islands with just the right conditions for pyrite to form,” Parry said. “They were in a Goldilocks zone of exceptional preservation.”
read more: Scientists discover fossilized brain from 500 million year old arthropod
Adaptation to dark environments
This particular arthropod is of particular interest because it shows an adaptation to its appendages that Parry calls a “biological Swiss Army knife.”
Modern arthropods use their legs at the front of their bodies for a variety of functions. Some people deploy them like insect antennas to sense their surroundings. Some have modified them into pincers for grasping prey. The adaptability of these appendages may be one reason why there are more species of arthropods on Earth than any other animal group.
in Romanx, The claws are much smaller and have three long, flexible, whip-like flagella at the tip. This suggests that the creature may have used these appendages to explore its environment. Its adaptation and lack of eyes indicate that: Romanx They probably lived in deep, dark environments.
Parry says scientists are not done searching for fossils at the site yet.
“The trilobites from this site are very famous, but other fossils with soft parts are much rarer from this site,” says Parry. “discovery” Romanx It suggests many more new fossils yet to be discovered from this site. ”
They might also hit “Fool’s Gold.”
read more: 6 unusual features in animal evolution
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Before joining Discover Magazine, Paul spent more than 20 years as a science journalist, specializing in U.S. life sciences policy and global scientist career issues. He started his career in newspapers but switched to scientific magazines. His research has appeared in publications such as Science News, Science, Nature, and Scientific American.
