Another groundbreaking discovery made at Inner Meadow by Memorial University researchers
A Memorial University graduate student has discovered a new fossil species in Ediacaran-aged rocks from Newfoundland, dated to 551 million years old.
Palaeobiology master of science student Gelena Muirhead-Hunt found the fossils at a site known as Inner Meadow in Upper Island Cove in Conception Bay, N.L., which is known for its exceptional preservation of soft-bodied organisms without shells or bones.
“Most of the fossils on the site belong to the enigmatic Ediacara biota of proto-animals, such as the fractal-like rangeomorphs that Newfoundland is famous for,” said Ms. Muirhead-Hunt. “But when we uncovered the first specimen of our new fossil, we knew that we were onto something really special.”
When she showed the fossil to her supervisor, Dr. Duncan McIlroy, he suggested she compare it with an obscure but important group of organisms called ctenophores, the oldest of which are 20 million years younger than Ms. Muirhead-Hunt’s newly discovered fossils.
They concluded that the fossils are close relatives to a group of stem-ctenophores well known from the much younger Burgess Shale fossil site in British Columbia.
“We have known about the presence of the jellyfish relatives Haootia and Mamsetia and the sponge-like Lydonia in the Ediacaran rocks of Newfoundland for a decade or more, and while we have been hoping to find other animals, I never even considered that we might find a ctenophore,” Dr. McIlroy said.
The new fossil, published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, has been named Edrathina obditchia.
“And since we know the Beothuk words for comb is “Edrathin” and beast is “Obditch,” combining them into the new name seemed like a fitting tribute to the culturally extinct Beothuk people of Newfoundland,” she said.
Beyond being the first fossil of its kind, an Ediacaran stem-ctenophore will add palaeontological fuel to the already fiery debate on the oldest animal ancestor.
“This is the most amazing fossil site I have ever worked on, and there are more palaeontological marvels to share in the very near future,” said Dr. McIlroy.
Plaster copies of the fossils are being added to The Rooms Provincial Museum collection in St. John’s.
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