A new breed of species has been discovered by scientists who found the fossil of a sedimentary rock. It was unearthed at Shaanxi province in China. Discoverers subsequently called it Saccorhytus coronarius. This creature has been characterized as having the size of a speck of sand.
It has a bag-like body, wrinkled mouth and no anus. Furthermore, this ancient creature is said to have bilateral symmetry. This is common to all creatures that existed after it, including us humans. Experts believed that this creature existed more than 540 million years ago.
Simon Conway Morris from the University of Cambridge said that the fossils look like black grains to the naked eye. However, under close scrutiny within the microscope, its features are highly-detailed. He even said that the level of detail in each sample was very astonishing. He also added that the discovery of this species might be the answer in tracing the common ancestor of all deuterostomes.
IFLScience defines deuterostomes as a broad group that includes vertebrates (humans), echinoderms (starfish), and hemichordates (acorn worms). In literal terms, deuterostome means "mouth second.” This is because the anus is the first opening to develop in the embryo. Experts also concluded that if the creature has no anus, therefore, the food it eats also comes out of its mouth as an excretion. However, Morris said that they are not concluding that the creature has no anus. They are open to the possibility that they have not found it yet.
Simon also added that the creature they discovered could have had a thin and flexible skin. According to him, this creature might have had musculature that allowed it to wriggle around. There are also four openings in each of its side.
Forbes reported that Degan Shu, a researcher from Northwest Unviersity, said that their team has “notched up” important and relevant discoveries in the past. This includes the earliest fish and a vast variety of pre-historic deuterostomes. Shu also said that the discovery of Saccorhytus will provide them astonishing insights into the very first stages of the evolution from fish to mankind.
Recently, another group of scientists also discovered a fossil which is predicted to be the largest otter species that ever existed. The discovery was made in Yunnan province. It was called Siamogale melilutra.
