520-Million-Year-Old Fossil from China Fills Gap in Evolutionary History of Cephalopods
Paleontologists have identified the earliest-known cephalopod equipped with a siphuncle — a tubular extension of the mantle found in shelled cephalopods — pushing back the fossil record of this key evolutionary feature to the Early Cambrian, roughly 520 million years ago.
In a new study, the researchers examined 32 specimens of a previously unknown cephalopod species from the Shuijingtuo Formation in China. Named Eoceras shaanxiense, the animal lived in the Early Cambrian oceans approximately 520 million years ago. Millimeters in size, it had a straight, cone-shaped shell, a tilted opening, multiple internal walls, and a segmented tube running along the underside of the shell that connected to the chambers through tiny canals...
Read more: https://www.sci.news/paleontology/eoceras-shaanxiense-14958.html
