The 'articulate brachiopod' fossil, found in a quarry in Herefordshire, England, is the first of its kind to be preserved with its soft parts intact in 3D. It was discovered by Dr Mark Sutton of Imperial College London, who reveals the structure of the clam-like organism using a 3D colour computer model in this week's Nature.
Showing the internal structure of the brachiopod as well as the stalk and rootlets that kept it tethered in place, the model gives a unique insight into the workings of the ancient shellfish.
Dr Mark Sutton, a lecturer in the Department of Earth Science and Engineering, who discovered the fossil alongside colleagues at the Universities of Yale, Oxford and Leicester, said: "This is a significant discovery because it is something we never dared to dream we might see - an ancient fossil articulate brachiopod with its fleshy parts intact, and preserved in three-dimensions to boot.
"Up to now, in all the millions of articulate brachiopod fossils scientists have examined, no-one has ever found anything except empty shells. This fossil helps us understand one of the most common creatures to have lived in the ancient oceans of the world," adds Dr Sutton, who gave the fossil the Latin name Bethia serraticulma after his wife Bethia.
The find has challenged the assumption that ancient brachiopods were put together in the same way as their modern descendents. The ancient model is unusual because its rootlets are physically tied onto a stick-like object on the sea-floor, most likely to be debris from a dead sea-lily. Some modern brachiopods have rootlets, but they spread out into soft sediment, just as plant roots do.
"Those brachiopods that stick to a hard object do it chemically, rather than tying themselves on," explains Dr Sutton. "Bethia's stalk is also much chunkier than in any modern brachiopod, and has strange ridges on it. It clearly didn't work in the same way at all. You can also see baby brachiopods attached with their stalks and the main fossil has filaments of its feeding organ," he adds.
This fossil is the latest in a series of spectacularly well-preserved creatures from the Herefordshire site that Sutton and his colleagues have unearthed over the last few years. The team anticipates that many more important finds are yet to emerge.
The model was created by shaving away the rock encasing the fossil layer by layer. Scientists then photographed each layer, reducing the fossil to dust, but converting it into a high-fidelity 3D 'virtual fossil' that can be viewed and manipulated on computer.
This work was supported by the Leverhulme Trust, NERC and English Nature.
**Still images of the colour model and a photograph of the fossil, all in 300 dpi, are available, together with a quicktime movie showing the model from all angles.**
Dr Mark Sutton will be speaking about this fossil and other exciting finds during his talk 'The Herefordshire Lagerstatte: a 3D glimpse of Silurian life' at the BA Festival of Science, Dublin, on Thursday 8 September 2005 from 15.40 to 16.00.
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Notes to editors:
1. Nature, Vol 436, issue 7053 pp 1013-1015.
Title: "Silurian brachiopods with soft-tissue preservation"
Mark D Sutton1, Derek E G Briggs2, David J Siveter3, Derek J Siveter4,5
1 Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London SW7 2AZ, UK
2 Department of Geology & Geophysics, Yale University, PO Box 208109, New Haven, CT 06520-8109, USA
3 Department of Geology, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH
4 Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK
5 Geological Collections, University Museum of Natural History, Oxford OX1 3PW, UK
2. Consistently rated in the top three UK university institutions, Imperial College London is a world leading science-based university whose reputation for excellence in teaching and research attracts students (11,000) and staff (6,000) of the highest international quality. Innovative research at the College explores the interface between science, medicine, engineering and management and delivers practical solutions that enhance the quality of life and the environment - underpinned by a dynamic enterprise culture. Website: www.imperial.ac.uk
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