April 17, 2019

Artist's concept of Sollasina cthulhu (Image courtesy Elissa Martin)

An article published in the journal “Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences” reports the discovery of a species related to the animals of the class Holothuroidea, the ones commonly known as sea cucumbers, which was named Sollasina cthulhu for a certain resemblance to the creature invented by the writer H.P. Lovecraft. A team of researchers examined very well preserved fossils discovered in the English site of Herefordshire dating back to about 430 million years ago, during the Silurian period, using modern technologies to create a 3D reconstruction.