Rare 567-million-year-old fossils refine our understanding of early animal evolution

From butterflies to blue whales, corals and worms, Earth is home to an incredible diversity of animals. How all of these animals evolved from earlier, simpler ancestors is one of the most exciting stories in the history book of life on our 4.5 billion-year-old planet. A new study, published today in Science Advances, adds crucial information to this story. Led by Scott Evans, assistant curator of invertebrate palaeontology at the American Museum of Natural History, it draws on rare 567-million-year-old fossils to show animal evolution may have started far earlier than previously thought.

Rare 567-million-year-old fossils refine our understanding of early animal evolution. From butterflies to blue whales, corals and worms, Earth is home to an incredible diversity of animals. How all of these animals evolved from earlier, simpler ancestors is one of the most exciting stories in the history book of life on our 4.5 billion-year-old planet. A new study, published today in Science Advances, adds crucial information to this story. Led by Scott Evans, assistant curator of invertebrate palaeontology at the American Museum of Natural History, it draws on rare 567-million-year-old fossils to show animal evolution may have started far earlier than previously thought. Reconstruction of a hypothetical deep-water paleocommunity from the new fossil site in Canada’s Northwest Territories, based on fossils recovered by the researchers. Ale...