Ancient life forms fed with fractal arms

• Autores: Andy Coghlan
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 2982, 2014, pág. 11
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Rangeomorphs ruled the oceans for around 40 million years, beginning 575 million years ago, in a period called the Ediacaran. Before them, life was microscopic. They grew on the sea bed, far too deep to harvest sunlight for photosynthesis. Up to 2 meters long, they had no organs, mouths or means of moving, so they had to passively absorb nutrients from the surrounding water. Rangeomorphs vanish from the fossil record around 542 million years ago during the Cambrian explosion, a sudden profusion of new life forms that could move and hunt, and had exoskeletons.