'Mold pigs' invertebrates from 30m years ago

[Still Waters]

Fossils preserved in Dominican amber reveal a new family, genus and species of microinvertebrate from the mid-Tertiary period, a discovery that shows unique lineages of the tiny creatures were living 30 million years ago.

The findings by George Poinar Jr. of the Oregon State University College of Science give a rare look at a heretofore unknown clade of invertebrates, along with their fungal food source and other animals that lived in their habitat.

Poinar, an international expert in using plant and animal life forms preserved in amber to learn more about the biology and ecology of the distant past, informally calls the new animals "mold pigs" for their resemblance to swine, and their diet. Scientifically, they are Sialomorpha dominicana, from the Greek words for fat hog (sialos) and shape (morphe).

https://phys.org/news/2019-10-mold-pigs-group-invertebrates-million.html

[Orphalesion]

That's awesome, I wonder if they were related/ancestors of tardigrades....?

[Jon the frog]

8 hours ago, Orphalesion said:

That's awesome, I wonder if they were related/ancestors of tardigrades....?

Maybe if we scratch a little more we will fond some alive if they are sturdy like tardigrades... look like relatives...

[XenoFish]

Looks like a brain with legs to me.

[Tatetopa]

8 hours ago, Orphalesion said:

That's awesome, I wonder if they were related/ancestors of tardigrades....?

The article said they are similar to tardigrades and mites but a separate group.

[Nnicolette]

4 hours ago, Jon the frog said:

Maybe if we scratch a little more we will fond some alive if they are sturdy like tardigrades... look like relatives...

Probably not sturdy enough if they were previously unknown.

[Jon the frog]

6 hours ago, Nnicolette said:

Probably not sturdy enough if they were previously unknown.

Invertebrate without a hard shell are rarely found in fossil and we have a lot of invertebrate species yet to discover in present day. Of the 2000-4000 new animal species discovered annually, most are invertebrates from remote places.

[kel_kel]

aww it's kinda cute xD