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X-rays shed new light on Tully Monster mystery

31 Oct 2019

UCC palaeontologists have discovered new evidence on what type of animal is the bizarre 300 million year old fossil known as the 鈥淭ully Monster鈥�.  The new findings show that the Tully Monster may not be a backboned animal as previously thought.

This new twist in the tale of the Tully Monster is based on cutting-edge analyses of melanin granules 鈥� melanosomes 鈥� in Tully鈥檚 weird stalked eyes. Chemical tests show that Tully鈥檚 eye melanosomes resemble those in animals without backbones.

The study, published today in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, was led by UCC鈥檚 Drs Chris Rogers and Maria McNamara with an international team of scientists from the UK, USA and Japan.

Was the mysterious 鈥淭ully Monster鈥� a vertebrate or an invertebrate? New research challenges a previous classification of the creature.

鈥� AAAS (@aaas)

The team used cutting-edge techniques to analyse the structure and chemistry of the eyes of the Tully Monster fossil, along with various other fossils and modern animals.

The eyes of Tully contain layers of melanosomes, a feature thought to exist only in the eyes of animals with backbones. Surprisingly, however, the new study shows that these layers are also found in the eyes of animals without backbones, such as octopus and squid. 鈥業 was amazed鈥� said Dr Rogers. 鈥榝or decades scientists have failed to identify the pigments in the eyes of animals like the octopus, but our chemical tests show it鈥檚 definitely melanin.鈥�

Melanosome analysis of extant and fossil eyes - implications for the 鈥楾ully Monster鈥� fossil

鈥� Royal Society Publishing (@RSocPublishing)

Powerful X-ray analyses show that the eye melanosomes of animals with and without backbones contain different metals. Controversially, the metals in the Tully Monster鈥檚 eyes are like those of animals without backbones. 鈥楾his means that invertebrates are still contenders for the Tully animal,鈥� says senior author Dr McNamara. 鈥楾he riddle of what kind of fossil creature this is continues, but future X-ray work will probably play an important part in figuring out the identity of Tully Monster and other enigmatic fossils.鈥�