A new report in this week's Nature clears up a mystery about an enigmatic fossil from the Cambrian. This small creature has been pegged as everything from a chordate to a polychaete, but a detailed analysis has determined that it has a key feature, a radula, that places it firmly in the molluscan lineage. It was a kind of small Cambrian slug that crawled over matted sheets of algae and bacteria, scraping away a meal.
Continue reading "Odontogriphus omalus" (on Pharyngula)
5 Comments
Gary Hurd · 12 July 2006
Dang, I droped my Nature subscription last year and this year they seem to be publishing lots of cool stuff.
Science mag is still coming every week, and over all I would rather support AAAS than Nature. $150 is about the cost of an over night tuna fishing trip which provides a proper perspective on things.
Gary Hurd · 12 July 2006
Thanks PZ. I dropped mu subscription last year in favore of Science mag. I'd rather support AAAS and their more open access policies.
Bob Carroll · 14 July 2006
Looks like it ought to be called Drschollus shoeinsertus.
Henry J · 14 July 2006
Well, if the shoe fits...
Kristi · 15 July 2006
So that's where they got the idea of pancakes, just pour maple on the plate and watch the pancakes absorb everything...