A remarkable 155-million-year-old fossil has revealed a starfish-like creature in the process of cloning itself. The brittle star, a relative of the starfish, was preserved as it regenerated half of its body, providing a unique glimpse into ancient asexual reproduction.
The fossil, belonging to a new species named Ophiactis hex, was discovered in limestone during an excavation in southern Germany in 2018. It displays six-fold symmetry and clonal fragmentation, where an organism reproduces by breaking off parts of its body and regrowing them.
Dr Ben Thuy, a palaeontologist at Luxembourg's Musee national d'histoire naturelle and co-author of the study, described the find as 'extremely lucky'. He explained that while the biology of clonal fragmentation is well understood, its evolutionary origins were virtually unknown until now.
The research, published in a scientific paper, concludes that Ophiactis hex is the first fossil case of a fissiparous ophiuroid. It suggests that clonal fragmentation, combined with six-fold symmetry and a lifestyle living on a host, was established as a means of asexual reproduction in brittle stars by the Late Jurassic period.
