Microscopic 570-million-year-old fossils from China may represent the earliest evidence for animal life on Earth, suggests a new study in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
Previous theories have said that the fossils represented giant bacteria.
"One of the proponents of the bacteria theory was a co-author of this paper (Jake Bailey of the University of Minnesota) and he now agrees that the fossils do not represent a giant sulfur bacteria," co-author Philip Donoghue, a professor of palaeobiology at the University of Bristol, told Discovery News.
Images previously taken by Shuhai Xiao, a professor of geobiology at Virginia Tech, reveal that many of the fossils from the Dousantuo Formation in South China look like mini baseballs and soccer balls.
Previous theories have said that the fossils represented giant bacteria.
"One of the proponents of the bacteria theory was a co-author of this paper (Jake Bailey of the University of Minnesota) and he now agrees that the fossils do not represent a giant sulfur bacteria," co-author Philip Donoghue, a professor of palaeobiology at the University of Bristol, told Discovery News.
Images previously taken by Shuhai Xiao, a professor of geobiology at Virginia Tech, reveal that many of the fossils from the Dousantuo Formation in South China look like mini baseballs and soccer balls.
