505-MILLION-YEAR-OLD
JELLYFISH – GEOGRAPHY
News:
Oldest species of
swimming jellyfish discovered in 505m-year-old fossils
What's
in the news?
● The
Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Canada
has recently announced the discovery of the fossil of the 505-million-year-old
jellyfish Burgessomedusa phasmiformis.
Burgessomedusa Phasmiformis Jellyfish:
●
It is a 505-million-year-old swimming jellyfish found at the Burgess Shale
in the Cambrian ecosystem.
●
It is the oldest known swimming jellyfish
in the fossil record.
●
Jellyfish are part of the medusozoans.
○
Medusozoans are a group of animals
producing medusae and include present-day creatures like box jellies, hydroids,
stalked jellyfish, and true jellyfish.
○
Medusozoans are part of the ancient animal
group called Cnidaria which also
contains corals and sea anemones.
●
Burgessomedusa
is a definitive indication that large, swimming jellyfish with a traditional
bell-shaped body had already evolved over 500 million years ago.
Burgess
Shale diversity:
●
The Burgess Shale is found in an area of
the Canadian Rocky Mountains known as the Burgess Pass.
●
Fossils were found on mountains in the
Canadian Rockies in British Columbia.
●
It became a World Heritage Site in the early 1980s, famous for the exceptional
preservation of soft-bodied fossils.
●
That means fossils that don’t have shells
or bones and typically don’t get preserved.