{"id":12001,"date":"2019-10-09T11:53:35","date_gmt":"2019-10-09T18:53:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/?p=12001"},"modified":"2019-10-09T11:53:35","modified_gmt":"2019-10-09T18:53:35","slug":"meet-the-mold-pigs-a-new-group-of-invertebrates-from-30-million-years-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/2019\/10\/meet-the-mold-pigs-a-new-group-of-invertebrates-from-30-million-years-ago\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the ‘mold pigs,’ a new group of invertebrates from 30 million years ago"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Fossils preserved in Dominican amber reveal a new family, genus and species of microinvertebrate from the mid-Tertiary period, a discovery that shows unique lineages of the tiny creatures were living 30 million years ago.<\/p>\n

The findings<\/a> by George Poinar Jr., professor emeritus in the Department of Integrative Biology, give a rare look at a heretofore unknown clade of invertebrates, along with their fungal food source and other animals that lived in their habitat.<\/p>\n

Poinar,\u00a0an international expert in using plant and animal life forms<\/a>\u00a0preserved in amber to learn more about the biology and ecology of the distant past, informally calls the new animals \u201cmold pigs\u201d for their resemblance to swine, and their diet. Scientifically, they are Sialomorpha dominicana, <\/em>from the Greek words for fat hog (sialos) and shape (morphe).<\/p>\n

Invertebrate means not having a backbone, and invertebrates account for roughly 95 percent of animal species.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery now and then we\u2019ll find small, fragile, previously unknown fossil invertebrates in specialized habitats,\u201d Poinar said. \u201cAnd occasionally, as in the present case, a fragment of the original habitat from millions of years ago is preserved too. The mold pigs can\u2019t be placed in any group of currently existing invertebrates \u2013 they share characteristics with both tardigrades, sometimes referred to as water bears or moss pigs, and mites but clearly belong to neither group.\u201d<\/p>\n

The several hundred individual fossils preserved in the amber shared warm, moist surroundings with pseudoscorpions, nematodes, fungi and protozoa, Poinar said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe large number of fossils provided additional evidence of their biology, including reproductive behavior, developmental stages and food,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is no extant group that these fossils fit into, and we have no knowledge of any of their descendants living today. This discovery shows that unique lineages were surviving in the mid-Tertiary.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Tertiary period began 65 million years ago and lasted for more than 63 million years.<\/p>\n

About 100 micrometers long, the mold pigs had flexible heads and four pairs of legs. They grew by molting their exoskeleton and fed mainly on fungi, supplementing that food source with small invertebrates.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo claws are present at the end of their legs as they are with tardigrades and mites,\u201d Poinar said. \u201cBased on what we know about extant and extinct microinvertebrates, S. dominicana appears to represent a new phylum. The structure and developmental patterns of these fossils illustrate a time period when certain traits appeared among these types of animals. But we don\u2019t know when the Sialomorpha lineage originated, how long it lasted, or whether there are descendants living today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Findings were published in Invertebrate Biology. Diane Nelson of East Tennessee State University collaborated with Poinar on this research.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The findings by entomologist George Poinar Jr. give a rare look at a heretofore unknown clade of invertebrates. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6617,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1507,641038,841525,523],"tags":[1320],"class_list":["post-12001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faculty-and-staff","category-ib","category-press-releases","category-research","tag-environment"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6vHeb-37z","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":840,"url":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/2015\/02\/amber-fossil-links-early-grass-dinosaurs-and-fungus-to-lsd\/","url_meta":{"origin":12001,"position":0},"title":"Amber fossil links early grass, dinosaurs and fungus to LSD","author":"Sharon","date":"February 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"A perfectly preserved amber fossil provides evidence of the earliest grass specimen ever discovered.","rel":"","context":"In "Faculty and Staff"","block_context":{"text":"Faculty and Staff","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/category\/people\/faculty-and-staff\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Preserved grass spikelet","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/files\/2015\/03\/spikelet.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":954,"url":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/2014\/05\/lyme-disease-older-than-human-race\/","url_meta":{"origin":12001,"position":1},"title":"Lyme disease older than human race","author":"Sharon","date":"May 29, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"New discoveries of ticks fossilized in amber show that the bacteria which cause it may have been lurking around for 15 million years.","rel":"","context":"In "Faculty and Staff"","block_context":{"text":"Faculty and Staff","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/category\/people\/faculty-and-staff\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tick with Rickettsia in amber","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/files\/2015\/04\/tick2-525x700.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5851,"url":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/2017\/02\/jurassic-park-scientist-strikes-alien-looking-insect-preserved-amber\/","url_meta":{"origin":12001,"position":2},"title":"Jurassic Park scientist strikes again: Alien-looking insect preserved in amber","author":"Katharine de Baun","date":"February 3, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Entomologist discovers an ancient, alien-looking insect frozen in amber with features so bizarre that it calls for the declaration of a new order.","rel":"","context":"In "Faculty and Staff"","block_context":{"text":"Faculty and Staff","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/category\/people\/faculty-and-staff\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/files\/2017\/01\/32520806205_325499e4df_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7855,"url":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/2017\/08\/ancient-flowers-discovered-100-million-year-old-tree\/","url_meta":{"origin":12001,"position":3},"title":"Ancient flowers discovered from 100-million-year-old tree","author":"Katharine de Baun","date":"August 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"T-Rex bulling its way through a forest likely dislodged flowers 100 million years ago. 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