A Fossil Mystery, Solved by a SpinEssexella fossils date back to the Carboniferous period, when northern parts of Illinois hovered just above the equator.
Essexella fossils are composed of two structures — a textured, barrel-shaped region and a smooth bulb.
“It looked like the bottom of an anemone,” Dr. Plotnick said.
Dr. Plotnick, Dr. Hagadorn and their team redescribed Essexella as an ancient anemone last year in the journal Papers in Palaeontology.
Dr. Plotnick posits that these animals once lined the floor of the Mazon Creek estuary.
Persons:
Roy Plotnick, Francis Tully, Tully, ”, Essexella, Plotnick, James Hagadorn, I've, Marjorie Leggitt, Hagadorn, Edward Drinker Cope, Charles Marsh, couldn’t, De Agostini, Jean, Bernard Caron, Hallucigenia, ” Dr, Caron, Caron’s, Dr
Organizations:
University of Illinois, Denver Museum of Nature, Field Museum, Getty, Royal Ontario Museum
Locations:
University of Illinois Chicago, Illinois, Chicago, China, Burgess, Canada