Discovery of 505-million-year old chitin in the basal demosponge Vauxia gracilenta.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Ehrlich H
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3861796 | biostudies-other | 2013
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
Publications
Discovery of 505-million-year old chitin in the basal demosponge Vauxia gracilenta.
Ehrlich H H Ehrlich H H Rigby J Keith JK Botting J P JP Tsurkan M V MV Werner C C Schwille P P Petrášek Z Z Pisera A A Simon P P Sivkov V N VN Vyalikh D V DV Molodtsov S L SL Kurek D D Kammer M M Hunoldt S S Born R R Stawski D D Steinhof A A Bazhenov V V VV Geisler T T
Scientific reports 20131213
Sponges are probably the earliest branching animals, and their fossil record dates back to the Precambrian. Identifying their skeletal structure and composition is thus a crucial step in improving our understanding of the early evolution of metazoans. Here, we present the discovery of 505-million-year-old chitin, found in exceptionally well preserved Vauxia gracilenta sponges from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale. Our new findings indicate that, given the right fossilization conditions, chitin ...[more]
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