Pizzaguy
Member
They just don't know...
http://www.livescience. com/12883-plant-animal-mysterious-fossils-defy-classification.html
Strange fossils, including some that could be predecessors to modern animals, found in China shed new light on the evolution of large, complex organisms, and indicate that they may have diversified earlier than thought.
Researchers believe that the rocks containing these fossils, found in southern Anhui Provence, date between 635 million and 580 million years ago. The new types of organisms discovered in them include two that are fan-shaped, as long as 2 inches (5 centimeters), and resemble seaweed, as well as three other new types of organisms that are difficult to classify as animal or plant.
"Some of my colleagues are more leaning toward the animal interpretation," said study researcher Shuhai Xiao, a professor of geobiology at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. "But my personal view is that we still don't know what they are."
These fossils were discovered in the black shale of what is called the Lantian Formation in China, and they date back to the first part of the Ediacaran Period, the time when life became big, or at least visible to the naked eye.
More at the link, if I can get the link to work! (Take out the spaces before the .com)
http://www.livescience. com/12883-plant-animal-mysterious-fossils-defy-classification.html
Strange fossils, including some that could be predecessors to modern animals, found in China shed new light on the evolution of large, complex organisms, and indicate that they may have diversified earlier than thought.
Researchers believe that the rocks containing these fossils, found in southern Anhui Provence, date between 635 million and 580 million years ago. The new types of organisms discovered in them include two that are fan-shaped, as long as 2 inches (5 centimeters), and resemble seaweed, as well as three other new types of organisms that are difficult to classify as animal or plant.
"Some of my colleagues are more leaning toward the animal interpretation," said study researcher Shuhai Xiao, a professor of geobiology at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. "But my personal view is that we still don't know what they are."
These fossils were discovered in the black shale of what is called the Lantian Formation in China, and they date back to the first part of the Ediacaran Period, the time when life became big, or at least visible to the naked eye.
More at the link, if I can get the link to work! (Take out the spaces before the .com)
