Scienceblogtwo

The mysterious microscopic species thought to be the origin of humans actually belongs to a separate family tree, according to a global research team. The Saccorhytus is a basic characteristic of the deuterostome group, from which our own deep ancestors arose. It is a spikey, wrinkled sack with a large mouth surrounded by spines and holes that were thought to be pores for gills. However, a careful examination of fossils from China that are 500 million years old revealed that the holes around the mouth are actually the bases of spines that split during fossil preservation, finally illuminating the evolutionary relationship between the microfossil Saccorhytus and its larger relatives. Saccorhytus is thought by the researchers to be an ecdysozoan. Thanks to Philip Donoghue and others. Yunhuan Liu, a professor of palaeobiology at Chang'an University in Xi'an, China, claims that some of the fossils are so wonderfully preserved that they almost appear to be living. Sacrohytus was an ...