Hundreds of millions of years before the dinosaurs, these two creatures were rocking out during the Silurian period. These recently discovered species have now been named “Punk” and “Emo” by paleontologists, a pair of molluscs that exhibit striking similarities to their music-identifying namesakes.
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00:00Hundreds of millions of years before the dinosaurs, these two creatures were rocking out during the
00:08Silurian period. These recently discovered species have now been named Punk and Emo by
00:13paleontologists, a pair of mollusks that exhibit striking similarities to their music-identifying
00:18namesakes. They were both found in Herefordshire in England, and they are turning our understanding
00:22of their family on its head. That's because they both have some unique features that made
00:26them highly adaptable, something believed impossible in such early life forms. Punk has a long worm-like
00:32body and long spines, but also gills and a wide foot appendage. Emo has a similar but shorter
00:37worm-like body, as well as spines. However, Emo also has a protective shell, adding to the already
00:42overwhelmingly diverse mollusk thylum. Head of the study which is analyzing the pair, Dr. Mark Sutton
00:47says, these 3D models have been a veritable goldmine, revealing not only that each of these
00:52spiky mollusca were bottom dwellers who lived on the ocean floor, but also that they each had a
00:56unique way of locomotion, with Emo moving like an inchworm, and Punk's movement capabilities
01:01still a mystery.