A Much Earlier Start for Animals

ScienceNOW Daily News ^ | 4 February 2009 | Phil Berardelli

[LiteKeeper]

INTREP

[LibWhacker]

...we animals can all trace our origins back to sponges

Well, that explains democrats.

[neverdem]

Chinese earthquake may have been man-made, say scientists

Man killed by 'exploding mobile phone'

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FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.

[grey_whiskers]

The findings seem to solve one mystery, but they intensify another. Pushing back animal origins by 100 million years places their beginnings during a time called Snowball Earth, when our planet was almost completely encased in ice. If true, it means Demospongiae arose in an extremely harsh environment, not the relatively warm seas of today. It's possible, Love says, that sponges could have emerged before Snowball Earth and inhabited a haven just large enough to allow them to survive.

Al Gore is deeply disappointed.

Cheers!

[grey_whiskers]

Look, no flamewar here either.

[Elsiejay]

Wasn’t the Cambrian era the time of the trilobites; those complex critters with the most amazingly complex eyes? Kazillions of trilobites were buried quickly; many with their chitinous exoskeletons still preserved as such, having not become mineralized.

[neverdem]

Wasn’t the Cambrian era the time of the trilobites; those complex critters with the most amazingly complex eyes?

Sorry, but I cant help you. I'm not the person to ask questions about paleontology.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Proof...Proof I tell you....Global Warming lead to an explosion of life on this cold planet.....

Take that Al Gore....

[js1138]

placemarker

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Elsiejay....Found this:

****************************EXCERPT***********************

Trilobites for Everyone! 
By Jack Kallmeyer

Tracking Trilobites: Adventures in Paleontology by Judy Lundquist. Lexington, Kentucky: Kentucky Geological Survey, 2005. $9.43 soft cover; 70 pp; 3 pages of references; 3 pages covering Organizations, Scientific Web Sites and other Web Sites. The book is well illustrated throughout with photographs, drawings and other original art. This is Kentucky Geological Survey Special Publication 4, Series XII, available through the Survey - telephone toll free at (877) 778-7827 for ordering information.

Tracking Trilobites is a book that fills a big void for amateur fossil enthusiasts. Few publications exist that are aimed at a general audience and that communicate solid scientific information in a format and style that is accessible. It also focuses on what has to be the most popular invertebrate fossil of all.

For those of you who don't recognize the author of Tracking Trilobites, Judy Lundquist, she is an amateur paleontologist and member of the Lexington, Kentucky based Kentucky Paleontological Society. The Kentucky Geological Survey provided the review copy of this book and included some additional background information on the author. From the transmittal letter: "Ms. Lundquist has 20 years experience communicating science to the public through programs in museums and national parks, as well as a passion for paleontology. She has written paleontology articles for Blue Ridge Country and Rock & Gem magazines as well as pieces for Fossil Butte National Monument, the Florida Museum of Natural History and the Kentucky Paleontological Society."

Lundquist begins with the much needed pronunciation guide for "tri-lo-bite" and then reminds us why people like trilobites in the first place. She even cites Native American beliefs among the Ute tribe who used the Cambrian Elrathia as a talisman to protect from illness. The translation of the Ute word for trilobite shows native American recognition of extinction and the aquatic nature of the once living form.

What exactly are trilobites? Lundquist covers the basics of the three lobes but incorporates additional information in her narrative. As is typical throughout the book, she includes much more so that the reader is exposed in this case to Linnaean organization and the naming of organisms, how scientists determine relatedness and where trilobites fit into the grand scheme of the arthropod Phylum.

"Trilobite Times" is the section covering the age and time line for trilobites. Not contented with simply stating the age range in years and naming a few Eras, Lundquist provides a complete mini education in geology. Tracking Trilobites covers relative and absolute dating methods in such a way that anyone can understand the principals behind the methods and the ultimate truth of the results. Extinction, diversification and the driving forces for those processes are covered here in the same fashion.

[Marine_Uncle]

Being a little tough on Lenin’s useful idiot taint yah.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

They need abuse....

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Ernest_at_the_Beach.

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[SunkenCiv]

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[neverdem]

Thank you. BTTT!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

For those wanting to know what the H**l is a Trilobite...more than a small bite...

What are Trilobites?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

And about the eyes:

The Trilobite Eye

[Marine_Uncle]

heheh. Your right of course.

[ForGod'sSake]