RE: New thing discovered that does not fit into tree of life
September 4, 2014 at 12:13 pm
(This post was last modified: September 4, 2014 at 12:26 pm by Anomalocaris.)
(September 4, 2014 at 12:01 pm)downbeatplumb Wrote: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-29054889
Quote:A mushroom-shaped sea animal discovered off the Australian coast has defied classification in the tree of life.
Perhaps the edeacaran fauna is not extinct after all.
The notion that the this creature does to fit into tree of life is somewhat flippantly sensationalistic. How does it not fit into tree of life? There seems to be no contention over the fact that it is a eukaryote, and is part of animalia. This suggests at cellular level it's morphology and biochemistry is very conventional. It not only fit into our tree of life, we know which branch and which sub-branch it is on. The main question is do previously know of the tendril on which it resides.
If we find something with a wholly unique biochemistry totally incompatible with all known prokaryotes and eukaryotes, for example it has DNA with a different set of base pairs than the 4 common to all life on earth, then that would rightly not fit in our tree of life.
