325-Million-Year-Old Ten-Armed Octopus Fossil Named After President Joe Biden | Environment

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325-Million-Year-Old Ten-Armed Octopus Fossil Named After President Joe Biden | Environment

Abhishek Pratap 2 days ago News -- 14 March, 2022 -- Source -- https://playcrazygame.com/2022...e-biden-environment/

The approximately 300 known species of octopus that inhabit our oceans have a unique characteristic: they have eight arms. O Syllipsimopodi bidenithe oldest relative of today’s octopuses, had ten.

The new species, just 12 cm long, was discovered during an excavation in an old bay in the state of Montana, in the United States, and was named after President Joe Biden as the researchers wanted to honor the American president’s commitment to science. .

The discovery represents a unique find for scientific research because fossils of soft animals, such as octopuses, are rarely in a state of conservation that allows their study.

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Despite this, this fossil was ignored by science for more than 30 years; it remained for decades in Canada’s Royal Ontario Museum until American paleontologists Christopher Whalen and Neil Landman decided to study it.

“Octopuses are the smartest invertebrates and are among the smartest animals of all. It’s fascinating to know where these unique animals came from evolutionarily,” said Whalen, a postdoctoral fellow at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and Yale University. .

Cephalopods (octopus and squid) are some of the most diverse and fascinating molluscs on our planet. They conquered all the oceans, survived the five biggest extinctions in Earth’s history and today they number about 800 species.

Researchers discover fossil of a 10-meter prehistoric animal

The authors suggest that the characteristics of the Syllipsimopodi bideni make him the oldest member of a group called the vampirepods. This is the group of cephalopods that includes modern octopuses and the “vampire squid” which, despite its name, is closer to the octopus than to the squid.

Syllipsimopodi bideni, the oldest relative of today’s octopuses, has ten arms. Its name is a tribute to President Joe Biden. — Photo: Reuters/AMNH/S. THURSTON

Today’s vampire squid have eight arms and two thin filaments that scientists have long considered vestiges of ancient arms. Octopuses do not have these vestigial filaments (structures that have lost or changed their main functionality).

“Syllipsimopodi is the first fossil to demonstrate that, yes, vampirepods ancestrally had 10 arms, as we predicted,” Whalen said.

Until now, vampirepods were thought to have originated in the Triassic Period, around 240 million years ago. But this new species goes back more than 82 million years, which is longer than what separates humans from Tyrannosaurus rex.

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Octopus ancestors lived before era of dinosaurs, study shows

by Christina Larson -- March 13, 2022-- Source -- https://phys.org/news/2022-03-...s-era-dinosaurs.html

Octopus ancestors lived before era of dinosaurs, study shows An octopus swims at the zoo in Frankfurt, Germany on Friday, Nov. 25, 2005. In research published Tuesday, March 8, 2022, in the journal Nature Communications, scientists have described the oldest known fossil ancestor of octopuses – an approximately 330 million-year-old specimen found in Montana. Credit: AP Photo/Bernd Kammerer, File

Scientists have found the oldest known ancestor of octopuses – an approximately 330 million-year-old fossil unearthed in Montana.

The researchers concluded the ancient creature lived millions of years earlier than previously believed, meaning that octopuses originated before the era of dinosaurs.

The 4.7-inch (12-centimeter) fossil has 10 limbs—modern octopuses have eight—each with two rows of suckers. It probably lived in a shallow, tropical ocean bay.

"It's very rare to find soft tissue fossils, except in a few places," said Mike Vecchione, a Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History zoologist who was not involved in the study. "This is a very exciting finding. It pushes back the ancestry much farther than previously known."

The specimen was discovered in Montana's Bear Gulch limestone formation and donated to the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada in 1988.

For decades, the fossil sat overlooked in a drawer while scientists studied fossil sharks and other finds from the site. But then paleontologists noticed the 10 tiny limbs encased in limestone.

The well-preserved fossil also "shows some evidence of an ink sac," probably used to squirt out a dark liquid cloak to help to evade predators, just like modern octopuses, said Christopher Whalen, an American Museum of Natural History paleontologist and co-author of the study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications.

The creature, a vampyropod, was likely the ancestor of both modern octopuses and vampire squid, a confusingly named marine critter that's much closer to an octopus than a squid. Previously, the "oldest known definitive" vampyropod was from around 240 million years ago, the authors said.

The scientists named the fossil Syllipsimopodi bideni, after President Joe Biden.

Whether or not having an ancient octopus—or vampire squid—bearing your name is actually a compliment, the scientists say they intended admiration for the president's science and research priorities.

3/14/221:35 PM