Overview
- A study published in Scientific Reports analyzed roughly 100 Spriggina floundersi specimens and used 76 with clear detail to measure body curvature.
- About 70% of the usable fossils showed a distinct kink and the team reports roughly twice as many preserved left-side impressions as right, which implies a rightward turning preference in life.
- Because Spriggina fossils at Nilpena are mirror impressions, the authors say the uneven distribution of bends is unlikely to arise from simple preservation bias or consistent currents and therefore may reflect behavior.
- Lead author Scott Evans and outside paleontologists quoted in coverage describe the result as indirect but plausible evidence that Spriggina could control its movement, which would require linked sensory and muscle responses.
- If confirmed, the finding would push the deep-time origin of lateralized behavior back more than half a billion years, but researchers stress more lines of evidence are needed to link the pattern definitively to nervous-system complexity.