Oldest soft bodied mollusc and radula

[Architeuthoceras]

Looks like they have found an ancestor of the cephalopods

Fossils reveal world's oldest soft-bodied mollusc

 

[Taollan]

Doesn't look much different than alot of nudis that are around today. Its amazing that life arrived at all of these basic body forms so early.

 

[Phil]

Well that's quite interesting. Odontogriphus is not a new discovery, but has not been described as a mollusc before as far as I know. I believe it has bounced around in the 'problematic worm' status for a quite a while, though one study grouped it with the brachiopods; this new study is therefore quite important. It actually had a row of tiny tentacles surrounding the radula too.

Odontogriphus even has it's own orchestral score! Go to track 4 on this link below. Not the most catchy little number though, and not really iPod material:

http://rand.info/rands/text/notes/burgess_shalen.html

 

[spartacus]

Phil, what a shame that my speakers are currently akin to ascending mammary glands, can't wait to sample Hallucigenia doubled by maracas and punctuated by sleigh bells.
I suspect my species is in decline !

Keef

 

[spartacus]

Being a tad intrigued, I managed to thrash my audio components (forgot to plug speakers back in after oil change) into shape & sat down to enjoy the delights of Hallucigenia !

What a load of piffle, I've just recorded a bath fart & will release it as a tribute mix "Tubular B*llsh*t" on brown vinyl, picture disc as soon as !

Keef

 

[sorseress]

I'm gonna' have to get an MP3 player.....

 

[sorseress]

What? YOu don't appreciate "modern" music???

 

[spartacus]

I'm gonna' have to get an MP3 player.....

From experience, I wouldn't bother ! Punched tape is certain to enjoy a return to fashion

Keef

 

[sorseress]

I'm always way behind on all the new techie stuff. Probably because I'm one of the living fossils! Anyone for vinyl?

 

[Phil]

According to the website The Burgess Shale Suite does not seem to have been performed live since 1994.

Perhaps then it mimics the animals themselves; a brief explosion of performances, then a gradual disappearance, leaving us with ghost-like impressions on the internet to tantalise us and truly wonder what it would been like to experience a live performance.

Perhaps in a few years, the Suite, long since forgotten, willl be dug up by a musical palaeontologist and reinterpreted; some sections will be interpreted as avant-garde, others as progressive, jazz even, in an attempt to shoe-horn the pieces into familiar musical styles. Ultimately the suite will have been regarded as useless, a music experiment in styles and forms that left no descendants.

Thank goodness, because it was flipping awful.