Hundreds of millions of years before the dinosaurs, these two creatures were rocking out during the Silurian period. These recently discovered species have now been named “Punk” and “Emo” by paleontologists, a pair of molluscs that exhibit striking similarities to their music-identifying namesakes.
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00:00Hundreds of millions of years before the dinosaurs, these two creatures were rocking out during
00:08the Silurian period.
00:10These recently discovered species have now been named Punk and Emo by paleontologists,
00:14a pair of mollusks that exhibit striking similarities to their music-identifying namesakes.
00:19They were both found in Herefordshire in England, and they are turning our understanding of
00:22their family on its head.
00:24That's because they both have some unique features that made them highly adaptable,
00:28something believed impossible in such early lifeforms.
00:31Punk has a long worm-like body and long spines, but also gills and a wide foot appendage.
00:36Emo has a similar but shorter worm-like body, as well as spines.
00:39However, Emo also has a protective shell, adding to the already overwhelmingly diverse
00:44mollusk phylum.
00:45Head of the study which is analyzing the pair, Dr. Mark Sutton, says these 3D models have
00:49been a veritable goldmine, revealing not only that each of these spiky mollusca were bottom
00:53dwellers who lived on the ocean floor, but also that they each had a unique way of locomotion.
00:58With Emo moving like an inchworm, and Punk's movement capabilities, still a mystery.