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12 Nov 2003 |
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The world’s oldest known fossil chordate, from the Ediacara biota of the Flinders Ranges, South Australia, is now at the South Australian Museum. |
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This tiny, 6 cm-long fossil is the body mould of the first known animal from the phylum to which vertebrates belong. Chordates share such characteristics as a head, gill slits, dorsal fin, stiffening rod (notochord) and serial sets of body muscles. This phylum includes all animals with backbones (vertebrates) as well as sea-squirts (tunicates) and lancelets in that they show these structures early in the development of the embryo.
This fossil was found by Ross Fargher, four years ago, on the western side of the Flinders Ranges. It is a member of the oldest known group of complex animals, the Ediacara Biota, first described from Ediacara Hills by the late Dr Reg. Sprigg. The presence of fossils of soft corals, sponges, molluscs and sea stars has led to the description of a new geological period, the Ediacaran. The layered rocks of the Flinders Ranges, spanning 600 - 543 million years before the present, will be the global reference for the Ediacaran Period when ratified in 2004. They are followed by the rocks of the Cambrian Period when fossils with shells, spines and scales first became common. |
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