Ancient jellyfish ancestor solves an evolutionary mystery

Many animals couldn’t survive without their exoskeletons.

Insects, spiders, crustaceans, and coral are just some of the creatures that wear their protection on the outside.

However, due to the fact that soft tissues degrade quickly over time, the bodies of these ancient creatures are difficult to identify and place on the evolutionary tree.

But a group of extremely well-preserved animals unearthed in Yunnan Province, China, give researchers a peek into the lives of some of the first living things with exoskeletons.

The fossils represent the remains of Gangtoucunia aspera, a tube-like animal that dwelled on the seafloor during the Cambrian Period.

Though large groups of fossilized Gangtoucunia skeletons have been found before, researchers haven’t been sure how to classify them.

The authors of the new study concluded that Gangtoucunia belong to a group of animals called cnidaria, which today includes jellyfish, sea anemones, and corals.

Not only do the fossils shed light on an important ancestor to some of today’s sea creatures, but they also help piece together what was beneath the first exoskeletons.

“This really is a one-in-million discovery. These mysterious tubes are often found in groups of hundreds of individuals, but until now they have been regarded as ‘problematic’ fossils, because we had no way of classifying them.

Thanks to these extraordinary new specimens, a key piece of the evolutionary puzzle has been put firmly in place.”