Vernanimalcula

Schematic drawing of Vernanimalcula guizhouena.

  • Doushantuo Formation ( Guizhou / China)
  • Vernanimalcula guizhouena

Vernanimalcula guizhouena is supposedly the earliest known member of the Bilateria (animals with bilateral symmetry ). A new analysis of fossilized material has shown that it is questionable whether they are fossils, and that there was certainly no bilaterians.

It lived about 600 to 580 million years. It was between 0.1 and 0.2 mm in size and fed probably of microbes on the sea floor. His movement may resemble that of a snail. Vernanimalcula means " spring animals " (Latin vernus = "Spring ", animalcula = " animals " of animal = "animal" ), which refers to its occurrence in fossils after the end of Cryogeniums, an ice age, refers (see Snowball Earth ).

The Vernanimalcula fossils were discovered in the Doushantuo Formation in Guizhou, China. This fossil site is one of the rare places where soft body parts and fine structures have been preserved in fossils. The Vernanimalcula fossils show three germ layers, a coelom, a differentiated gastrointestinal tract, a mouth, an anus and paired outer wells, could be the sense organs.

The occurrence of Vernanimalcula in these early fossils is of great importance. It reduces the probability that animals without coelom, for example flatworms may have been before animals developed coelom. The splitting of the animals into many tribes could have already taken place before the size of the animals exceeded microscopic dimensions. The sudden appearance of many animal phyla in the Cambrian explosion could be a fallacy; could instead existing strains independently in ( geologically ) short period of time larger forms with well petrifying body parts have (eg tanks ) are formed.

Vernanimalcula was first described by Juan- Yuan Chen ( Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology ) et.al. described. Against the classification of Vernanimalcula as a Triploblasten objections were raised by various quarters, among other things it was suggested that it was a simple built animal to whose body had lain down mineral crusts, falsely believe a more complex structure incorrectly.

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