Discovered ancestor species of tentacles

Scientists unearthed the 128 million-year-old fossil of a creature thought to be the oldest ancestor of squid and octopus today.

Using 3D scanning technology, a team of experts from the Austrian Museum of Natural History found the fossil of the creature, named Dissimilites intermedius . Then, they modeled to record their way of life and movement.

Scans Dissimilites intermedius
- (Photo: Austria National History Museum)

The fossil was discovered in the sediment formations from the Cretaceous about 128 million years ago, but now lies on the top of the Dolomite in the Alps.

Scientists say X-ray technology has allowed them to see through the surface rock and observe the creature inside the fossil.

According to the expert group, prehistoric Tethys ocean was between the Gondwana and Laurasia continents before the Indian Ocean appeared.

After that, the continent of Gondwana broke and formed most of the southern hemisphere, while Laurasia formed most of the northern hemisphere.

Over the centuries, the Alps emerged from the ocean and pushed some "millions of millions of years" of sediments to the highest peak of Dolomite.

It is also where Austrian experts discovered fossils of the tentacles of the tentacles.