A new fossil species of tunicate described

• Researchers recently described a new fossil species of tunicate called Megasiphon Thylacos.
• The Megasiphon Thylacos fossil is about 500 million years old.
• The discovery suggests that the modern tunicate body plan was established shortly after the Cambrian explosion.
• The fossil provides insight into the sedentary, filter-feeding lifestyle of ancestral tunicates and their metamorphosis from tadpole-like larvae.

Tunicates

• Tunicates, commonly known as sea squirts, are a group of marine animals.
• They spend most of their lives attached to surfaces such as docks, rocks or the bottom of a boat.
• There are about 3,000 species of tunicates in the world’s oceans, mainly in shallow water habitats.
• The evolutionary history of tunicates dates back at least 500 million years.