520-million-year-old animal fossils might not be animals after all
The specimens may be an ancient type of algae, not creatures known as bryozoans
![A photo of a fossil with two dark brown pieces attached to the shell.](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/030723_sp_cambrian-fossils_feat.jpg?fit=1030%2C580&ssl=1)
Protomelission gatehousei was thought to be a marine animal called a bryozoan. New fossils suggest that the ancient organisms (two dark brown pieces seen attached to a fossil shell) were actually a type of algae.
Zhang Xiguang