Public Talk: Dr. Rod Taylor, "The world's oldest animals: Mamsetia and Haootia, two fossil stalked jellyfish from Ediacaran rocks of Newfoundland"
Dr. Rod Taylor will present this talk on his recent fossil discovery of the oldest animal ever found in the fossil record - Mamsetia manunis.
In 2014, an unusual fossil named Haootia (whose name is derived from the Beothuk work for 'demon') was described from the Port Union area of the Bonavista Peninsula, Newfoundland and Labrador. This fossil, the oldest known muscle tissue ever reported in the fossil record (565 million years old), was thought to be an ancient relative to a group of modern marine animals known as stalked jellyfish.
In August of 2024, a new species of stalked jellyfish was described from the same area: Mamsetia manunis (named from the Beothuk words for 'living' and 'cup') is 5 million years older than Haootia, so now represents the oldest animal ever found in the fossil record. Mamsetia is even more reminiscent of the modern stalked jellyfish than Haootia, and cements the notion of these fossils representing ancestors of modern stalked jellyfish. Haootia is also revisited in our 2024 publication, greatly improving our understanding of these unusual and ancient animals.
The talk will be followed by a Q&A session.
Admission by donation.
Location: Johnson Geo Centre
Date and Time: Thursday, Oct. 17 at 07:00 PM - 08:30 PM (NDT)