[Rockhounds] 'Inside out' fossil reveals a new species with a perfectly preserved interior

[Kreigh Tomaszewski]

A new species of fossil from 444 million years ago that has perfectly
preserved insides has been affectionately named "Sue" after its
discoverer's mom.

The result of 25 years of work by a University of Leicester paleontologist
and published in the journal *Palaeontology*, the study details a new
species of multisegmented fossil and is now officially named as Keurbos
susanae.

Lead author Professor Sarah Gabbott from the School of Geography, Geology
and the Environment said, "Sue is an inside-out, legless, headless wonder.
Remarkably, her insides are a mineralized time-capsule: muscles, sinews,
tendons and even guts all preserved in unimaginable detail. And yet her
durable carapace, legs and head are missing—lost to decay over 440 million
years ago.

"We are now sure she was a primitive marine arthropod but her precise
evolutionary relationships remain frustratingly elusive."

Today, about 85% of animals on Earth are arthropods, and they include
shrimps, lobsters, spiders, mites, millipedes and centipedes.

https://phys.org/news/2025-03-fossil-reveals-species-interior.html