Major fossil study sheds new light on emergence of early animal life 540 million years ago
5/21/2018 02:30:00 PM
All the major groups of animals appear in the fossil record for the first time around 540-500 million years ago - an event known as the Cambrian Explosion - but new research from the University of Oxford in collaboration with the University of Lausanne suggests that for most animals this 'explosion' was in fact a more gradual process.
The Cambrian Explosion produced the largest and most diverse grouping of animals the Earth has ever seen: the euarthropods. Euarthropoda contains the insects, crustaceans, spiders, trilobites, and a huge diversity of other animal forms alive and extinct. They comprise over 80 percent of all animal species on the planet and are key components of all of Earth's ecosystems, making them the most important group since the dawn of animals over 500 million years ago.
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https://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2018/05/major-fossil-study-sheds-new-light-on.html#BaM6lrAhtTFlhdyu.99
