480 million-year-old fossil sheds light on 150-year-old paleontological mystery

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Fossil (left) and depiction (right) of extinct armored machaeridian worm. Colors indicate the trunk (yellow) limb (red) bristles (gray) attachment of shell plates (green) gut (purple) and dorsal linear structure (blue). Credit: Vinther et al Nature
Fossil (left) and depiction (right) of extinct armored machaeridian worm. Colors indicate the trunk (yellow), limb (red), bristles (gray), attachment of shell plates (green), gut (purple) and dorsal linear structure (blue). Credit: Vinther, et al Nature

Discovery of an exceptional fossil specimen in southeastern Morocco that preserves evidence of the animal’s soft tissues has solved a paleontological puzzle about the origins of an extinct group of bizarre slug-like animals with rows of mineralized armor plates on their backs, according to a paper in Nature.


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