Pre-Cambrian sponges, world’s oldest animals discovered

This July 2013 video says about itself:

A number of sponge-like fossils occur in the fossil record, many of which were originally described as sponges. A few of these are presented here. Charles D. Walcott was one of the first paleontologists to get involved with many of these, some of which are found in very ancient strata of the Precambrian.

Walcott’s Atikokania was one of these, it’s now considered to be a pseudofossil (false fossil) much like the previously described Eozoon canadense (the so called “Dawn Animal of Canada”).

Sponges are an ancient group of animals; however, their presence before the Cambrian Period is questionable.

That was then. However, now …

From the University of California – Riverside in the USA:

Sponges on ancient ocean floors 100 million years before Cambrian period

Molecular fossil evidence

October 15, 2018

Researchers at the University of California, Riverside, have found…