Researchers used X-ray scans and thin slices to create 3D images of incredibly delicate fossils of Aculifera molluscs. Found in Herefordshire, these worm-like creatures, nicknamed 'The Spikes' due to their resemblance to punk rock hairstyles, sported long protective spines and a unique ratchet-like system for movement.
“Some people may be a bit down on molluscs. My partner called them loser animals. But they’re one of the really major branches of life,” says
The fossils, from a group of molluscs known as Aculifera, were so delicate that the researchers couldn’t just crack open the stone that contained them because that would destroy their fragile forms.Instead, Sutton and his colleagues used X-ray scans to discern the structures inside the rock and then took thin slices of the material, photographing each layer and then putting the images together to create a 3D picture of what the organisms looked like.
The music-related monikers were originally pet names, says Sutton, because the spike-laden fossils were reminiscent of hairstyles from the punk rock movement, but the names stuck, leading to the official suggestions of“The spikes are probably mostly protective,” says Sutton, although it is possible that they were formed because the organisms needed to get rid of the calcium that accumulated in their bodies as they went about life in the sea.
He too thinks it is likely that the spikes would have primarily been protective because both species certainly would have moved around on the sea floor rather than burrowing.
Paleontology Fossils Molluscs Aculifera 3D Imaging
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