Animal Fossils Research Articles

The first fossil Scarites (Coleoptera: Carabidae) from the Duho Formation (middle Miocene), Korean Peninsula

We report Scarites sp. as the first fossil Coleoptera from Duho Formation in Korean Peninsula. It is characterized by rounded margins of pronotum, straight posterior part of compound eyes, overall oval shape from apex of head to thorax, lateral margins of elytra slightly rounded, and thick antenna cleaner on protibia. Until now, most terrestrial fossils with description from Duho Formation are plant fossils and only marine animal fossils were described. This insect is the first terrestrial animal fossil found in the Duho Formation, possibly the first accurate fossil representative of the genus Scarites.

The Las Hoyas Lagerstätte: a palaeontological view of an Early Cretaceous wetland

Las Hoyas (Cuenca, Spain) represents a unique Early Cretaceous (Barremian) fossil biota of a wetland. The site has yielded a particularly diverse assemblage of >20 000 plant and animal fossils, many of which present unprecedented soft tissue preservation, including microstructural details. Among the most significant discoveries are the oldest angiosperms, the smallest species of chondrichtians and squamates, new theropod dinosaurs, including several enantiornithine birds, the first European tapejarid pterosaur and the most complete eutriconodont mammal. Such discoveries have produced data on important aspects related to plant and animal evolution, such as the first steps in flower development by plants, insights into unknown anatomical and diet specializations in theropod dinosaurs, the development of flight manoeuvrability in early birds, the unexpected global distribution of tapejarid dinosaurs and ground-breaking data on early mammalian hair development. There are many more discoveries to unveil and new research is now linking the immense wealth of palaeobiological information with mathematical procedures to study the ecological structure of the wetland. Supplementary material: Taxonomic structure of the Las Hoyas diversity and systematic list of unearthed taxa are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.6336914

Study of the remains of the southern elephant Archidiskodon merdionalis gromovi in alluvial deposits of the lower reaches of the Ural River (Zhaiyk)

Relevance. The first scientific data on the remains in the region of Western Kazakhstan in the Pleistocene period date back to the 18th century. According to the literature data, the presence of large animal fossils in the Ural (Zhaiyk) River has been known since Pallas’ journey (1786), when it was first established that the bones of the first bison and mammoths were often washed out from the banks of the Ural (Zhaiyk) River. The well-preserved remains of elephants make it possible to determine the systematic state of the finds. A lot of work has been done on fossil elephants of the Eurasian mammoth line, including the analysis of those adjacent to the Ural River (Zhaiyk).During the excavation of a quarry in the lower reaches of the Ural (Zhaiyk) river, a fossil skeleton of an elephant Archidiskon merdionalis gromovi was discovered. Reconstruction and study of the found bones confirmed that the find is an almost complete skeleton of an elephant belonging to the genus Archidiskodon.The purpose of the research is to take measurements of all found bones and identify the individual age of specimens of Archidiskodon merdionalis gromovi in the territory of Western Kazakhstan according to surveys from the locality of the village of Yaik. Reseacrh methodology. The article describes the specific location in the lower reaches of the Ural River (Zhaiyk) of the skeleton of the southern elephant Archidiskodon merdionalis gromovi. Measurements of all the found bones were taken and the bones found from other localities were compared. Results. Due to lack of material, there are no precise criteria for determining the individual age of A. meridionalis specimens based on tooth development, wear generation, succession, and wear stages. However, these data have been collected for modern elephants and successfully used to determine the age of the southern elephant Archidiskon merdionalis gromovi in the lower Ural River (Zhayik), which should be between 28 and 32 years old. According to the diameter of the cross section of the tusk (216 mm), the nature of the change of teeth, the average size of the long bones of the limbs, and the degree of their fusion with the epiphyses, we believe that A. meridionalis can be unambiguously identified. Conclusions. The studied skeleton of A. meridionalis of the southern elephant Archidiskon merdionalis gromovi in the lower reaches of the Ural River (Zhaiyk) includes most of the large postcranial bones (except for the distal bones of the limbs, sternum, and caudal vertebrae). This is the second discovery of an almost complete A. meridionalis skeleton found in the region, a rare event in the history of fossil elephant paleontology.

Extinctions, Morphological Gaps, Major Transitions, Stem Groups, and the Origin of Major Clades, with a Focus on Early Animals

AbstractSystematic extinctions can leave major morphological gaps between living crown‐group clades. Such morphological gaps would be perceived, from a neontological point of view, as major evolutionary transitions. In order to fill these morphological gaps and to map the evolutionary steps toward major evolutionary transitions, we need to integrate extinct stem‐group taxa in phylogenetic studies. However, the recognition of stem group has not been widely adopted in the study of early animal fossils, despite that all fossils are stem groups at one level or another. Part of the difficulty is that stem groups may not have all features that collectively diagnose the respective crown group, and they can have unique (autapomorphic) features, making them tantalizingly similar to and frustratingly different from the crown group (e.g., stem‐group eukaryotes can be prokaryotic and stem‐group animals can be protistan). The need to embrace stem groups and to implement the PhyloCode, in order to achieve phylogenetic clarity and to offer key paleontological insights into the origin and early animal evolution, is illustrated in debates on several controversial Ediacaran and Cambrian fossils.

Paleobiological inferences from paleopathological occurrences in the Arctic ceratopsian Pachyrhinosaurus perotorum.

As a key tool for understanding how animals lived in the past, paleopathology informs us about the lives and deaths of fossil animals. We identify paleopathologies within an assemblage of bones of the pachyrostran centrosaurine Pachyrhinosaurus perotorum, an Arctic ceratopsian. More than 1,000 bones of this dinosaur were collected from the Prince Creek Formation of North Slope, Alaska from fossil sites along the Colville River. Our survey shows the occurrence of paleopathology to be very low and comparable to other populations of horned dinosaurs from the lower latitudes, suggesting that the ancient Arctic environment did not impose intense hardships on these dinosaurs greater than in other environments, as expressed by paleopathological modification of the skeleton. This result may be due to the more equable mean annual temperatures in the Arctic region during the Cretaceous. Also of interest, the frequency of occurrence of paleopathology in the Arctic Pachyrhinosaurus population is very low compared to populations of fossil and historic quadrupedal artiodactyls that are recognized as long distance wanderers.

Interrelation between Palaeolithic and faunal remains in the central Narmada Valley, India

Abstract Whether scavenging or hunting, the consumption of large mammals is very prominent in the history of humankind. During the Lower Palaeolithic period, the abundance of large cutting tools found indicates increased meat consumption. Evidence has demonstrated this at various African and European sites where direct links between lithic and faunal assemblages have been made, for instance cut-marked bones and use-wear studies. On the Indian Subcontinent, there is a lack of direct evidence on animal remains in archaeological contexts (with one exception); however, there are numerous sites where animal fossils and lithic artefacts occur in shared contextual associations. The present paper is concerned with the relationships between the lithic and faunal assemblages in archaeological contexts, particularly the occurrence of bifaces and large mammalian fossils in Lower Palaeolithic assemblages with specific reference to the central Indian zone. Without the confirmation of anthropogenic signatures on Pleistocene faunal remains, it is not easy to assess whether a particular assemblage has the contemporaneous deposition of the two datasets or not. Here, we present a review of archaeological and faunal records in the central Narmada Valley and explore the possible associative evidence of human–animal interactions.

Probability-based preservational variations within the early Cambrian Chengjiang biota (China).

The Chengjiang biota (Yunnan Province, China) is a treasure trove of soft-bodied animal fossils from the earliest stages of the Cambrian explosion. The mechanisms contributing to its unique preservation, known as the Burgess Shale-type preservation, are well understood. However, little is known about the preservation differences between various animal groups within this biota. This study compares tissue-occurrence data of 11 major animal groups in the Chengjiang biota using a probabilistic methodology. The fossil-based data from this study is compared to previous decay experiments. This shows that all groups are not equally preserved with some higher taxa more likely to preserve soft tissues than others. These differences in fossil preservation between taxa can be explained by the interaction of biological and environmental characteristics. A bias also results from differential taxonomic recognition, as some taxa are easily recognized from even poorly preserved fragments while other specimens are difficult to assign to higher taxa even with exquisite preservation.

Radiocarbon and luminescence dating of the Wulanmulun site in Ordos, and its implication for the chronology of Paleolithic sites in China

After the Salawusu and Shuidonggou sites, the Wulanmulun site found in 2011 is another important Paleolithic site in Ordos, China, due to its numerous stone artifacts and animal fossils. Here, we carry out a combined luminescence and radiocarbon dating of the site. The luminescence dating was done on coarse-grained quartz from 24 sediment samples using a single-aliquot regenerative-dose (SAR) protocol. The radiocarbon dating was performed on ten charcoal samples and one bone sample using acid-base-acid (ABA) and acid–base-wet oxidation-stepped combustion (ABOx-SC) pretreatments. The results showed that: (i) although some samples show relative large (>20%) overdispersion in De distribution (small aliquots), the quartz grains are considered to be sufficiently bleached before burial; (ii) the quartz OSL ages of ∼4–65 ka obtained for the samples are generally stratigraphically consistent and reliable; (iii) the radiocarbon ages obtained using the ABA pretreatment procedure are much younger than the corresponding OSL ages, and the radiocarbon ages obtained using the ABOx-SC method are beyond or close to the laboratory background. The radiocarbon ages obtained using the ABA treatment were considered to be underestimated. This implication is that caution must be taken for dating Chinese Paleolithic (>25 ka) using the ABA pretreatment procedure on carbon samples. Finally, the cultural layers from the Wulanmulun site are deduced to be between 50 and 65 ka. • Wulanmulun is a newly excavated Paleolithic site in Ordos in north China. • A total of 24 sediment samples were luminescence dated using the SAR protocol on quartz grains. • Ten charcoal and bone samples were radiocarbon dated using different pretreatment procedures. • The radiocarbon ages are underestimated when using the acid-base-acid pretreatment. • The cultural layers of the site are dated to 65–50 ka.

The Sedimentary Context of El Kherba Early Pleistocene Oldowan Site, Algeria: Sediment and Soil Micromorphology Studies

A comprehensive investigation is conducted on the archeological sediments from the Early Pleistocene site of El Kherba (Algeria), involving sediment and soil micromorphology analyses. El Kherba yielded Oldowan stone tools associated with animal fossils from three archeological levels. The studies aim at assessing the sedimentary processes that acted in the burial of the archeological remains and at identifying microfacies in order to gain high-resolution paleoenvironmental information pertaining to early hominin behavioral activities at the site 1.8 million years ago. The data indicate that the archeological assemblages accumulated in sediments with fine-grained particles, primarily silt and clay of massive structure, in a floodplain landscape in a temperate climate in the lower part of the stratigraphy and a gradual change from humid to arid environment in the upper part. These results are also supported by taphonomic and isotope studies carried out previously on the site.

Preservation and Taphonomy of Fossil Insects from the Earliest Eocene of Denmark.

Simple SummaryInsect fossils dating 55 million-years-old from the Stolleklint Clay and Fur Formation of Denmark are known to preserve both fine morphological details and color patterns. To enhance our understanding on how such fragile animals are retained in the fossil record, we examined a pair of beetle elytra, a wasp and a damselfly using sensitive analytical techniques. In our paper, we demonstrate that all three insect fossils are composed of cuticular remains (that is, traces of the exoskeleton) that, in turn, are dominated by the natural pigment eumelanin. In addition, the beetle elytra show evidence of a delicate lamellar structure comparable to multilayered reflectors that produce metallic hues in modern insects. Our results contribute to improved knowledge on the process of fossilization of insect body fossils in marine environments.Marine sediments of the lowermost Eocene Stolleklint Clay and Fur Formation of north-western Denmark have yielded abundant well-preserved insects. However, despite a long history of research, in-depth information pertaining to preservational modes and taphonomic pathways of these exceptional animal fossils remains scarce. In this paper, we use a combination of scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) to assess the ultrastructural and molecular composition of three insect fossils: a wasp (Hymenoptera), a damselfly (Odonata) and a pair of beetle elytra (Coleoptera). Our analyses show that all specimens are preserved as organic remnants that originate from the exoskeleton, with the elytra displaying a greater level of morphological fidelity than the other fossils. TEM analysis of the elytra revealed minute features, including a multilayered epicuticle comparable to those nanostructures that generate metallic colors in modern insects. Additionally, ToF-SIMS analyses provided spectral evidence for chemical residues of the pigment eumelanin as part of the cuticular remains. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first occasion where both structural colors and chemical traces of an endogenous pigment have been documented in a single fossil specimen. Overall, our results provide novel insights into the nature of insect body fossils and additionally shed light on exceptionally preserved terrestrial insect faunas found in marine paleoenvironments.

Pemanfaatan Museum 13 Sebagai Sumber Belajar Sejarah Siswa SDN Panjunan II Melalui Ekstrakurikuler Kepurbakalaan

An area that is rich in historical heritage objects is certainly an advantage to be proud of. The richer the history, of course, an area will certainly have advanced and many museums. One of the areas awarded with extraordinary historical objects is Bojonegoro Regency. Bojonegoro is an area where there are many historical relics, including paleontological objects such as ancient animal fossils. Therefore, it is not surprising that in Bojonegoro there are several museums, one of which is Museum 13 which focuses on paleontology. The existence of Museum 13 which is located in the Elementary School area has provided benefits for students, especially when the archaeological extracurricular was established which of course is used as a source of learning history for students. This study aims to describe Museum 13, how the process of establishing and implementing archaeological extracurricular activities and its use as a source of learning history for elementary school students. The method used is historical research method which is carried out in four stages. The first stage is heuristics or data collection, verification, interpretation, and writing of history or historiography.

Widespread mineralization of soft‐bodied insects in Cretaceous amber

Fossilized tree resin, or amber, commonly contains fossils of animals, plants and microorganisms. These inclusions have generally been interpreted as hollow moulds or mummified remains coated or filled with carbonaceous material. Here, we provide the first report of calcified and silicified insects in amber from the mid-Cretaceous Kachin (Burmese) amber. Data from light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive and wavelength-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX and WDX), X-ray micro-computed tomography (Micro-CT) and Raman spectroscopy show that these Kachin fossils owe their preservation to multiple diagenetic mineralization processes. The labile tissues (e.g. eyes, wings and trachea) mainly consist of calcite, chalcedony and quartz with minor amounts of carbonaceous material, pyrite, iron oxide and phyllosilicate minerals. Calcite, quartz and chalcedony also occur in cracks as void-filling cements, indicating that the minerals formed from chemical species that entered the fossil inclusions through cracks in the resin. The results demonstrate that resin and amber are not always closed systems. Fluids (e.g. sediment pore water, diagenetic fluid and ground water) at different burial stages have chances to interact with amber throughout its geological history and affect the preservational quality and morphological fidelity of its fossil inclusions.

Global and local drivers of the Ediacaran Shuram carbon isotope excursion

The Ediacaran Shuram carbon isotope excursion (CIE) follows the regional Gaskiers glaciation and occurs before the appearance of macroscopic animal fossils. Previous interpretations for the Shuram CIE have proposed global perturbations to Earth's carbon cycle accompanied by significant climatic and environmental change. These studies assume that carbonate carbon isotopes through the Shuram CIE record the composition of dissolved inorganic carbon in seawater. Through a compilation of new geochemical, sedimentological, and stratigraphic data from five localities on four separate paleocontinents, we find that all of the analyzed Shuram CIE successions share general similarities including a common transgressive-regressive sequence that is coincident with similar shifts in a host of geochemical proxies (δ13C, δ18O, δ44/40Ca, Sr/Ca, Mn/Sr, U/Ca). Despite these broad similarities between sections, there are important differences in the proxies between water depths that may be linked to changes in carbonate diagenesis. Specifically, we find the excursion's magnitude is largest in slope environments where diagenesis is sediment-buffered and smaller in shallow-water settings dominated by fluid-buffered diagenesis. The transgression that accompanied the Shuram CIE is consistent in amplitude (∼10-100s m) and duration (>1 My) with eustatic fluctuations driven by plate reorganization. These coupled geochemical and stratigraphic observations argue against meteoric and burial diagenesis as drivers for the excursion; instead, they are best explained by global changes to the locus and intensity of photosynthetic primary productivity in shallow-water environments and do not necessarily require large changes in global climate or marine redox.

Pre-Historic Intra-Continental Africa-India Proximity Series on the Vedic-Period-Earth Viewed from Alfred Wegener’s Pro-Universals

This paper has chosen its platform on which Alfred Wegener had advanced his fast-track research-method as a German Professor looking at many proproximity universals in geographic locations nurtured by the Cosmic Nature‟s identical species inhabiting the Earth / Vedic Soil from the beginning of prehistoric times. The Professor must have been ignited by the Nature‟s configured terrestrial fauna and flora with remnants of material-life-objects facilitated by occurrences of fossil organisms which are the geologically altered remains and/or conceptacles of once-living organisms before and after the separation of the Continental rocks, say, not man-made at all . His Excellency Alfred Wegener came up driving home his down-to-Earth hypothesis of prefixed „Continental Drift‟ as one of the pro-Universals akin to a mathematical lemma with deemed-proof in light of the paleontological wonders , say again, not man-made at all but of his times. Yet, fossils of identical plants and animals were taken as the pro-Universals by Wegener (1880-1930), while inspired by ancestral Indo-European settlers belonging twined to Germans‟ Vedic roots of Indo-European language family as pioneers of Vedic-Research since 1846 AD on Rig-Veda by Rudolph von Roth (1821-1895) and Max Mueller (1823-1900) known as the Veda Vyasa of the Kali Yuga.

Enduring evolutionary embellishment of cloudinids in the Cambrian.

The Ediacaran–Cambrian transition and the following Cambrian Explosion are among the most fundamental events in the evolutionary history of animals. Understanding these events is enhanced when phylogenetic linkages can be established among animal fossils across this interval and their trait evolution monitored. Doing this is challenging because the fossil record of animal lineages that span this transition is sparse, preserved morphologies generally simple and lifestyles in the Ediacaran and Cambrian commonly quite different. Here, we identify derived characters linking some members of an enigmatic animal group, the cloudinids, which first appeared in the Late Ediacaran, to animals with cnidarian affinity from the Cambrian Series 2 and the Miaolingian. Accordingly, we present the first case of an animal lineage represented in the Ediacaran that endured and diversified successfully throughout the Cambrian Explosion by embellishing its overall robustness and structural complexity. Among other features, dichotomous branching, present in some early cloudinids, compares closely with a cnidarian asexual reproduction mode. Tracking this morphological change from Late Ediacaran to the Miaolingian provides a unique glimpse into how a primeval animal group responded during the Cambrian Explosion.

Grit your teeth and chew your food: Implications of food material properties and abrasives for rates of dental microwear formation in laboratory Sapajus apella (Primates).

Dental microwear analysis has been employed in studies of a wide range of modern and fossil animals, yielding insights into the biology/ecology of those taxa. Some researchers have suggested that dental microwear patterns ultimately relate back to the material properties of the foods being consumed, whereas others have suggested that, because exogenous grit is harder than organic materials in food, grit should have an overwhelming impact on dental microwear patterns. To shed light on this issue, laboratory-based feeding experiments were conducted on tufted capuchin monkeys [Sapajus apella] with dental impressions taken before and after consumption of different artificial foods. The foods were (1) brittle custom-made biscuits laced with either of two differently-sized aluminum silicate abrasives, and (2) ductile custom-made "gummies" laced with either of the two same abrasives. In both cases, animals were allowed to feed on the foods for 36 hours before follow-up dental impressions were taken. Resultant casts were analyzed using a scanning electron microscope. We asked five questions: (1) would the animals consume different amounts of each food item, (2) what types of dental microwear would be formed, (3) would rates of dental microwear differ between the consumption of biscuits (i.e., brittle) versus gummies (i.e., ductile), (4) would rates of dental microwear differ between foods including larger- versus smaller-grained abrasives, and (5) would rates of dental microwear differ between molar shearing and crushing facets in the animals in these experiments? Results indicated that (1) fewer biscuits were consumed when laced with larger-grained abrasives (as opposed to smaller-grained abrasives), but no such difference was observed in the consumption of gummies, (2) in all cases, a variety of dental microwear features was formed, (3) rates of dental microwear were higher when biscuits versus gummies were consumed, (4) biscuits laced with larger-grained abrasives caused a higher percentage of new features per item consumed, and (5) the only difference between facets occurred with the processing of biscuits, where crushing facets showed a faster rate of wear than shearing facets. These findings suggest that the impact of exogenous grit on dental microwear is the result of a dynamic, complex interaction between (at the very least) grit size, food material properties, and time spent feeding - which is further evidence of the multifactorial nature of dental microwear formation.

Precambrian Paleobiology: Precedents, Progress, and Prospects

In 1859, C. R. Darwin highlighted the “inexplicable” absence of evidence of life prior to the beginning of the Cambrian. Given this lack of evidence and the natural rather than theological unfolding of life’s development Darwin espoused, over the following 50 years his newly minted theory was disputed. At the turn of the 19th century, beginning with the discoveries of C. D. Walcott, glimmerings of the previously “unknown and unknowable” early fossil record came to light – but Walcott’s Precambrian finds were also discounted. It was not until the breakthrough advances of the 1950’s and the identification of modern stromatolites (1956), Precambrian phytoplankton in shales (1950’s), stromatolitic microbes in cherts (1953), and terminal-Precambrian soft-bodied animal fossils (1950’s) that the field was placed on firm footing. Over the following half-century, the development and application of new analytical techniques coupled with the groundbreaking contributions of the Precambrian Paleobiology Research Group spurred the field to its international and distinctly interdisciplinary status. Significant progress has been made worldwide. Among these advances, the known fossil record has been extended sevenfold (from ∼0.5 to ∼3.5 Ga); the fossil record has been shown consistent with rRNA phylogenies (adding credence to both); and the timing and evolutionary significance of an increase of environmental oxygen (∼2.3 Ga), of eukaryotic organisms (∼2.0 Ga), and of evolution-speeding and biota-diversifying eukaryotic sexual reproduction (∼1.2 Ga) have been identified. Nevertheless, much remains to be learned. Such major unsolved problems include the absence of definitive evidence of the widely assumed life-generating “primordial soup”; the timing of the origin of oxygenic photosynthesis; the veracity of postulated changes in global photic-zone temperature from 3.5 Ga to the present; the bases of the advent of eukaryotic sexuality-requiring gametogenesis and syngamy; and the timing of origin and affinities of the small soft-bodied precursors of the Ediacaran Fauna.

Integrative approaches to dispersing science: A case study of March Mammal Madness.

Public engagement is increasingly viewed as an important pillar of scientific scholarship. For early career and established scholars, navigating the mosaic landscape of public education and science communication, noted for rapid "ecological" succession, can be daunting. Moreover, academics are characterized by diverse skills, motivations, values, positionalities, and temperaments that may differentially incline individuals to particular public translation activities. Here we briefly contextualize engagement activities within a scholarly portfolio, describe the use of one public education program-March Mammal Madness (MMM)- to highlight approaches to science communication, and explore essential elements and practical considerations for creating and sustaining outreach pursuits in tandem with other scholarly activities. MMM, an annual simulated tournament of living and fossil animal taxa, has reached hundreds of thousands of learners since 2013. This program has provided a platform to communicate research findings from biology and anthropology and showcase numerous scholars in these fields. MMM has leveraged tournament devices to intentionally address topics of climate change, capitalist environmental degradation, academic sexism, and racist settler-colonialism. The tournament, however, has also perpetuated implicit biases that need disrupting. By embracing reflexive, self-interrogative, and growth attitudes, the tournament organizers iteratively refine and improve this public science education program to better align our activities with our values and goals. Our experiences with MMM suggest that dispersing science is most sustainable when we combine ancestral adaptations for cooperation, community, and storytelling with good-natured competition in the context of shared experiences and shared values.

Possible poriferan body fossils in early Neoproterozoic microbial reefs

Molecular phylogeny indicates that metazoans (animals) emerged early in the Neoproterozoic era1, but physical evidence is lacking. The search for animal fossils from the Proterozoic eon is hampered by uncertainty about what physical characteristics to expect. Sponges are the most basic known animal type2,3; it is possible that body fossils of hitherto-undiscovered Proterozoic metazoans might resemble aspect(s) of Phanerozoic fossil sponges. Vermiform microstructure4,5, a complex petrographic feature in Phanerozoic reefal and microbial carbonates, is now known to be the body fossil of nonspicular keratosan demosponges6–10. This Article presents petrographically identical vermiform microstructure from approximately 890-million-year-old reefs. The millimetric-to-centimetric vermiform-microstructured organism lived only on, in and immediately beside reefs built by calcifying cyanobacteria (photosynthesizers), and occupied microniches in which these calcimicrobes could not live. If vermiform microstructure is in fact the fossilized tissue of keratose sponges, the material described here would represent the oldest body-fossil evidence of animals known to date, and would provide the first physical evidence that animals emerged before the Neoproterozoic oxygenation event and survived through the glacial episodes of the Cryogenian period.

The opposite poles of a debate - lapides figurati and the Accademia dei Lincei

The essay analyses the research carried out by some members of the Accademia dei Lincei on lapides figurati, namely by Fabio Colonna on animal fossils, and by Federico Cesi and Francesco Stelluti on plant fossils; the aim is to show the role played by the Accademia dei Lincei in establishing during the second half of the seventeenth century the opposite poles of the debate on the lapides figurati, on the one hand as chronological indices of a past world and, on the other, as sudden outcome of the vis vegetativa.