A mysterious, extinct creature that has puzzled scientists for more than a century may have finally found its place in the tree of life.
, first discovered in fossils in Scotland in 1890, which lived approximately 390 million years ago during the Middle Devonian.Now, according to a new analysis of well preserved fossils, scientists think that it was one of the earliest ancestors of tetrapods – animals with four limbs, including humans.
"This strange animal has baffled scientists since its discovery in 1890 as a puzzle that's been impossible to solve," says physicist Daisy Hu of the Australian National University. "Morphological comparisons of this animal have always been extremely challenging for scientists. However, recent improvements in high-resolution 3D segmentation and visualization have made this previously impossible task possible. Finding a specimen as well preserved as the ones we used is like winning the lottery, or even better!" There are several reasons why classifying this animal has been so problematic. Fossils of it are plentiful, but becausewas so small, and its fossils so damaged, reconstructing its cranial anatomy was enormously difficult. Plus, its anatomy shares features with both jawed and jawless fish, in addition to a complete lack of teeth andThe research team, led by paleontologist Tatsuya Hirasawa of the University of Tokyo and RIKEN in Japan, sought to resolve these problems by seeking out exceptional specimens, with the heads still firmly embedded, and hidden, in the rock. This meant that the heads of the animals were likely much more intact, compared to fossils with exposed heads."Choosing the best specimens for the micro-CT scans and carefully trimming away the rock surrounding the fossilized skull allowed us to improve the resolution of the scans,""Although not quite cutting-edge technology, these preparations were certainly keys to our achievement." The researchers then investigated the fossils with synchrotron radiation X-ray micro-computed tomography, which allowed them to image the fossils in exquisite resolution without destroying them, to conduct a thorough examination and reconstruction.Even without teeth and dermal bones, the results are pretty amazing. In the skull of, the team found three curved canals, consistent with the inner ears of jawed vertebrates.
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