fossilSLABlab.bsky.social

@fossilslablab.bsky.social

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Home of the Evans lab at the @amnh.org studying fossils of Soft Life Across Boundaries (SLAB). Sharing news and milestones of our research on the oldest animals and other exceptionally preserved extinct creatures.

Spriggina bent to the left from a fossil bed at NENP.

Bar graph illustrating the bend directions observed in Spriggina, with about twice as many bending to the left in fossils, compared with those bending to the right.

Map of bed 1T-FA at NENP with cartoons of Spriggina illustrating random body, bend and lift orientations for a community exposed to the same burial conditions.

Fossil bed at NENP overlooking the Flinders Ranges in South Australia.

Graphs illustrating shape variation in Spriggina, including landmark and elliptical Fourier analysis.

Fossil impression of Spriggina, an elongate fossil divided into repeated units and bent to the left midway down the long axis.

Animation of Spriggina demonstrating how we think it moved based on our new study. Animation by Alex Boersma.