A 300-million-year-old fossil that earned a Guiness World Record in 2015 as the world’s oldest octopus, has now been reclassified after new research published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
The April 8 report revealed the specimen, known as Pohlsepia mazonensis, to belong to a different group. The fossil was once believed to extend the octopus timeline by 150 million years.
For decades, it was used in studies on cephalopod evolution. However, with the help of modern imaging technology, scientists have now identified features that contradict its original classification.
