‘Angry minion’ with no anus not related to humans after all, scientists conclude

Scientists have ruled out the possibility that a 535m-old fossil that looks like a minion is our earliest known Ancestor.

It had been thought that the small sack-like creature with a large mouth and no anus was an early member of a large group of animals.

The researchers think that Saccorhytus is part of the same evolutionary group as arthropods.

The paper suggested that Saccorhytus was an early member of our own evolutionary line. Philip Donoghue, a professor at the University of Bristol and co-author of the latest study published in Nature, said, "We knew immediately that the authors had got it flat out wrong."

In order to create 3D digital models of the creature, the team collected hundreds of additional specimen, which they used to reveal more details about the creature.

Accorhytus is a small ball with a bunch of teeth and a mouth with rings of teeth. It is described as an angry minion.

The discovery was made when the team realized that the spine and holes around the fossil's mouth weren't respiratory organs.

The previous conclusion was based on the fact that the fossils of Saccorhytus had holes in their mouths, which they believed to be primitive gills. Donoghue said that the holes are where teeth have broken. According to our analysis, Saccorhytus is a member of the group that arthropods and their relatives are part of.

Deuterostome embryos have an anus followed by a second hole, while Saccorhytus only has one opening.

Accorhytus does not have an anus, only a mouth-like structure where it would have happily let anything it had eaten back out again.

Donoghue said that the search for our earliest Ancestor is continuing. Our understanding of the deuterostome family is in a state of disarray. We are trying to understand our evolution through fossils.

The authors have been contacted.