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Fossil Out Boy
Two "Punk" and "Emo" fossils — and we don't mean elder members of the music circles that once enjoyed greater cultural cachet — are challenging scientists' understanding of the evolution of mollusks. The scene, folks, is not dead.
As detailed in a study published in the journal Nature, the researchers created 3D models of the 430 million year old specimens, revealing strikingly complex features that suggest an early group of mollusks called aculifera weren't as primitive as once believed.
To their modern human eyes, however, the scientists saw a superficial resemblance to the hallmarks of certain outsider subcultures.
"Punk in particular, with its spiky appearance, clearly resembles a rebellious punk rocker — and we thought Emo complemented it well," said lead author Mark Sutton, a paleontologist at Imperial College London, in a statement about the work. If you squint hard enough, you might see "emo" looking bangs.
Petrified Kennedys
There are over 100,000 species of mollusks, making it one of the most diverse groups in biology as it comprises everything from octopuses to squids to snails to clams. It follows that we still don't have a perfect picture of its family tree and its hundreds of millions of years of evolution.
Officially named Punk ferox and Emo vorticaudum, these latest mollusk remains were recovered from a notable fossil site located on the England-Wales border, home to many ancient specimens that once dotted the seafloor.
Finding them, especially in such good condition that details of their soft tissue could be gleaned, was a godsend. "We don't know much about aculiferans, and it's unusual to find out we've suddenly got two," Sutton told The New York Times.
Sutton and his team created 3D models of Punk and Emo through a combination of x-ray scans and photographs. The x-rays revealed the internal structures, while the photographs were taken as the researchers carefully shaved off external layers of the fossils, documenting each step of the way.
"We grind away a slice at a time, take a photo, repeat at 20-micron intervals or so, and basically destroy but digitize the fossil as we go," Sutton told the NYT.
Funeral for a Friend
With the breathtaking accuracy of the digital models, the researchers discovered that both fossils possessed smooth undersides — strong evidence that they were seafloor dwellers.
In particular, Punk possesses a ridge-like "foot" — a trait shared by no other extant mollusks. It also has long, Liberty-spike-looking spines, and gills similar to those of another class of mollusks called chiton.
Likewise, Emo has long spines that resemble worm-like mollusks, too, but it also boasts shells and a top-to-down flattened body similar to chitons. Because it was found in a folded posture, the researchers believed that Emo moved like an inchworm. How Punk traversed the seafloor, though, is unclear.
"This is really giving us an almost unprecedented window into the sorts of things that were actually around when mollusks were getting going," Sutton told the NYT. "It's just this little weird, unexpected, really clear view of what was going on in the early history of one of the most important groups of animals."
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