skip to page contentsaustralian museum onlineabout the museumresearch and collectionsfeaturesexplore

The blob

Late Permian fossil known as 'The Blob'
Bowengriphus perphlegis, a Late Permian fossil known as 'The Blob'. Photo: S Humphreys
Late Permian fossil known as 'The Blob'
Bowengriphus perphlegis, a Late Permian fossil known as 'The Blob'. Photo: S Humphreys

Life's 3.5 billion year history tosses up the odd riddle - fossils that defy classification in living groups, where even the phylum-level classification is uncertain. Bowengriphus perphlegis, from Late Permian (250 million year old) lake deposits near Blackwater, Queensland, is one such mystery fossil. Known from two specimens in the Museum's collections, Bowengriphus is a flattened animal with an oval outline (earning it the nickname 'The Blob'). Its most complicated structure is a double-loop towards the front ofthe body, the loop bearing a series of tiny, conical, tooth-like elements that are presumed to be parts of a feeding apparatus.

Only one other organism - living or fossil - has a body design and feeding apparatus like that of Bowengriphus. The other 'Blob' is named Odontogriphus omalus. It was described in 1976 from much older (Middle Cambrian, 515 million year old) rocks inCanada. Odontogriphus and Bowengriphus are separated from each other by some 265 million years and half a world geographically; Odontogriphus is marine, whereas Bowengriphus lived in fresh water. Still, the two share enough similarities to suggest that they are each others' closest known relative, and they are classified together in the extinct group Odontogriphidae. Their position in the animal kingdom remains an enigma.

Greg Edgecombe