New Fossils Reveal Anatomy Of One Of Earth’s Earliest Creatures
April Flowers for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online An
international group of scientists led by researchers at the
University of Cambridge has made an extraordinary find in South
China. For the first time, scientists are able to see through
the head of the “fuxianhuiid” arthropod, revealing one of the
earliest evolutionary examples of limbs used for feeding along
with the oldest nervous system to stretch beyond the head in
fossil record. Prior to this find, heads covered by a wide
shell, or carapace, characterized all the known fossils of this
extremely soft-bodied animal. This carapace obscured underlying
contents from detailed study. A new fossil-rich site in South
China, however, contains arthropod samples where the carapace
has literally been “flipped” over before fossilization occurred.
This allowed the scientists an unprecedented look at the
fuxianhuiid head. Published recently in the journal Nature, the
study findings highlight the disco