Submitted by Waspie Dwarf: Scientists in Australia reported Thursday they had discovered the remains of the oldest vertebrate mother ever found. The fossilized 375-million-year-old placoderm fish, preserved with an embryo still attached with an umbilical cord, was found in the Gogo area of northwest Australia. The fossil fish is the oldest-known example of a mother giving birth to live young, and pushes back the emergence of this reproductive technique by some 200 million years. Prior to the discovery, the earliest evidence for this form of reproduction came from reptile fossils dating 248 to 65 million years ago during the Mesozoic Era.The scientists have named their 25-cm fossil Materpiscis attenboroughi, in honor of Sir David Attenborough, who first spotlighted the Gogo fish sites in the 1979 series Life on Earth.The find offered proof that an ancient species had advanced reproductive biology comparable to modern sharks and rays, according to John Long, head of sciences at the Museum of Victoria in Melbourne. "It is not only the first time ever that a fossil embryo has been found with an umbilical cord, but it is also the oldest known example of any creature giving birth to live young," Long said in an interview with Reuters.Frequently referred to as "the dinosaurs of the seas", placoderms ruled the planet's seas and lakes for close to 70 million years during the late Devonian period, when land animals evolved from fish. And while most were quite small, some grew to over 20 feet in length.
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