What is says on the tin. Are there any phylum that we can comfortably identify based solely off the rock record, but which possess no living species?
What is says on the tin. Are there any phylum that we can comfortably identify based solely off the rock record, but which possess no living species?
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Prototaxites, possibly
Look into Trilobozoa, interesting symmetry. Not quite jellies or jellyfish, but as of my understanding (which is limited in this area) are currently in their own completely extinct phylum. Little brief info excerpt from a recent paper.
“They had digestive cavities that were open at one end and could
be “coelenterates in a broad sense,” presumably com-
mon in the Late Precambrian (Malakhov, 2003).
However, they did not belong to either Ctenophores or
Cnidarians but represented a separate ancient branch
of Metazoa, which probably became extinct by the
beginning of the Paleozoic.”
Ivantsov, Andrey & Zakrevskaya, Maria. (2021). Trilobozoa, Precambrian Tri-Radial Organisms. Paleontological Journal. 55. 727-741. 10.1134/S0031030121070066.
Check out the Ediacaran biota. Unfortunately they were so long ago and hard to figure out that we can’t be sure in each case whether it went extinct or was an ancestor of something living now…. but they sure look different from everything else ever.
Its hard to say since this would probably happen right at the start of life.
My only thought could be the Trilobozoa their major difference is with their body plan. Animals today are (generally there is always some exception somewhere) symmetrical in body plans where they are radial in body plans.