"We show that 558-million-year (Ma)-old tube worm-like #Calyptrina and mollusc-like #Kimberella possessed a gut and shared a #diet of green #algae and bacteria. Despite their ancient age, sterol #metabolism within the gut of both organisms was already comparable to extant invertebrates. 
#Dickinsonia, one of the key #Ediacaran animals, show no traces of dietary molecules, indicating a different feeding mode and possible external #digestion analogous to modern #Placozoa."

https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(22)01699-2

Fascinating.

"[S]cientists have confirmed that they have found the world’s oldest meal – in a fossil of an animal that lived 558 million years ago.
[...]
Kimberella appears to have had a digestive system that was capable of selecting the sterols it needed to absorb into its tissue, while discarding the unusable molecules. “[...] That means that Kimberella already has this pretty sophisticated way of feeding.”"

https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/ediacaran-meal-fossil/

#Palaeontology #Fossils #Ediacara #Kimberella

Älteste Mahlzeit der Welt: Fossile Moleküle verraten Darminhalt von 550 Millionen Jahre alten Ediacara-Wesen (scinexx)
#Ediacarium #Fossil #Evolution #Mahlzeit #Kimberella #dasneueuniversum
https://www.scinexx.de/news/biowissen/aelteste-mahlzeit-der-welt-entdeckt/

Älteste Mahlzeit der Welt. Fossile Moleküle verraten Darminhalt von 550 Millionen Jahre alten Ediacara-Wesen (scinexx)
#Ediacarium #Fossil #Evolution #Mahlzeit #Kimberella #dasneueuniversum
https://www.scinexx.de/news/biowissen/aelteste-mahlzeit-der-welt-entdeckt/

Älteste Mahlzeit der Welt

Fossile Moleküle verraten Darminhalt von 550 Millionen Jahre alten Ediacara-Wesen

https://www.scinexx.de/news/biowissen/aelteste-mahlzeit-der-welt-entdeckt/

#Wissen #Ediacarium #Fossil #Evolution #Mahlzeit #Kimberella