Octopus ancestors lived before era of dinosaurs, study shows

Washington, March 9 (BUS): Scientists have discovered the oldest known ancestor of octopuses – a fossil about 330 million years old discovered in Montana.

The researchers concluded that the ancient creature lived millions of years earlier than previously thought, which means octopuses arose before the age of the dinosaurs.

The 4.7 inch (12 cm) fossil has 10 limbs, modern octopuses have eight, each row has two rows of suckers. He may have lived in a shallow tropical ocean bay, according to the Associated Press (AP).

“It’s very rare to find soft tissue fossils, except in a few places,” said Mike Viccione, a zoologist at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, who was not involved in the study. “This is a very exciting discovery. It pushes the lineage back a lot more than was previously known.”

The specimen was discovered in the Bear Gulch limestone formation in Montana and was donated to the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada in 1988.

For decades, the fossil in a drawer was overlooked as scientists studied fossil sharks and other finds from the site. But then paleontologists noticed 10 small limbs covered in limestone.

said Christopher Wallen, a paleontologist at the American Museum of Natural History and colleagues an author of the study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications.

The creature, the vampyropod, is likely the ancestor of both modern octopuses and the vampire squid, a puzzlingly named marine creature more closely related to an octopus than a squid. Previously, the oldest known vampyropod was about 240 million years ago, the authors said.

Scientists have named the fossil Syllilipsimopodi Bideni, after President Joe Biden.

Whether having an ancient octopus — or a vampire squid — bearing your name is actually a compliment, scientists say they intend to admire the president’s scientific and research priorities.

HF