Researchers have discovered a 550 million-year-old sea sponge fossil, filling in a gap in the evolutionary family tree of one of the earliest animals. At first glance, the simple sea sponge is no ...
Sponges in coral reefs, less flashy than their coral neighbors but important to the overall health of reefs, are among the earliest animals on the planet. New research from UNH peers into coral reef ...
The genome of a glass sponge species suggests that silica skeletons evolved independently in several groups of sponges. The genome of a glass sponge species suggests that silica skeletons evolved ...
Hosted on MSN
A 550-million-year-old sponge fossil may have lacked a skeleton entirely — rewriting how the first animals evolved
When paleontologists picture the earliest animals, they tend to imagine something with at least a rudimentary skeleton: a lattice of glassy needles, perhaps, or a mesh of calcium carbonate. But a ...
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest sci-tech news updates. This evidence has proven highly controversial, as it predates the fossil record of sponges by a minimum of 100 million years. Now an ...
Geobiologists reported a 550 million-year-old sea sponge that had been missing from the fossil record. The discovery sheds new light on a conundrum that has stumped zoologists and paleontologists for ...
NOTE: As of Jan. 9, 2026, the authors requested that the paper be retracted because of errors in the analysis. A reanalysis of the data will be posted at a later date. Biologists who study the ...
Coral reefs, the tropical rain forests of the marine environment, are under significant threat from a variety of stressors such as pollution, overfishing, coastal development and climate change. There ...
Prof. YUAN Xunlai from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and his team have discovered a late Ediacaran crown-group sponge, Helicolocellus, from the ...
Researchers led by geobiologist Professor Gert Wörheide have decoded the genome of Aphrocallistes vastus, a reef-building glass sponge found off the coast of British Columbia. The sponge possesses a ...
The genome of a glass sponge species suggests that silica skeletons evolved independently in several groups of sponges. Researchers led by geobiologist Professor Gert Wörheide have decoded the genome ...
Some results have been hidden because they may be inaccessible to you
Show inaccessible results