China News Network, Nanjing, February 26 (Yang Yanci) According to the news from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences on the 26th, researchers from the institute found and reported the Ordovician-Zhi in the Beikong special buried sponge fauna in Yixian, southern Anhui Spongy fossils from the transitional period of the Relic period. This is the earliest known fossil sponge fossil, and its fossil record can be advanced by more than 300 million years.
Related results have recently been published as cover articles in the international journal Palaontologische Zeitschrift.
Sponge sponges are a type of six-spray sponge that is more common in living sponges. They have various appearances and are widely distributed in global deep-water ecosystems. They live in a wide range of water depths, up to more than 6,700 meters.
Photo of Chinese ancient flower bone sponge specimen. Photo courtesy of Nanguo
Researchers have introduced that this type of sponge is currently classified in the order Pineia and Sponge. Although the pine sponge is considered to be a super-conservative group, and its earliest fossil records were found in the Ordovician strata, there is no evidence that the Sponge sponges were found in the Early Paleozoic strata.
According to reports, the fossil record of Guanhua bone sponge is usually found in the Cenozoic strata, and the bone needles are mostly stored in scattered states. Most of the genus specimens are living bone sponges. As of now, the earliest fossil record of Hua bone sponge can be traced back to the Cretaceous, and this record is also supported by the latest results of molecular paleontology.
However, the only complete Cretaceous spongy specimen from the Cretaceous period remains to be discussed due to the degradation of its characteristic bone needles. Other spongy sponge specimens are scattered and loose, and no correlation can be established based on this. Genus species.
Recently, Dr. Li Lixia from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and others found and reported the Sponge bone fossils in the Ordovician-Silurian transition period in the Beikong special buried sponge fauna in Shexian County, southern Anhui Province.
Chinese ancient flower bone sponge recovery map. Photo courtesy of Nanguo
Researchers introduced that the specimen was spherical or ovate, with thick walls and water holes on the surface. In view of its characteristics that are different from other genera in Sponge Bone Sponge, the ancient Sponge Bone Sponge was established as a model species in China.
The spongy bone sponge specimens discovered this time have typical and characteristic bone needles and arrangements, and their preserved complete bone structure not only provides the possibility to accurately determine their classification position, but also to explore the systematic evolution of this type of sponge Very important material provided. This is the earliest known fossil sponge fossil, and its fossil record can be advanced by more than 300 million years.
Researchers said that searching for early-preserved sponge fossils with very early characteristics is very important for exploring the origin and systematic evolution of sponge animals, and it also provides a lot of key information for molecular paleontology research, which more accurately defines the origin of its ancestral group. And evolution of key time nodes, greatly improving the accuracy of the study.
This research was jointly funded by the Strategic Pilot Project (B) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the State Key Laboratory of Modern Paleontology and Stratigraphy. (Finish)