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Cambrian explosion Subscribe to RSS - Cambrian explosion

Artist's impression of Yujingia glutenotunica

A star is born: half billion-year-old fossil rewrites the origin story of starfish

16 Sep 2026
Scientists have discovered several 518-million-year-old fossils that reshape the origins of the group of animals that contains starfish, and found...
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View of the Grand Canyon from the Colorado River

Grand Canyon was a ‘Goldilocks zone’ for the evolution of early animals

23 Jul 2025
A treasure trove of exceptionally preserved early animals from more than half a billion years ago has been discovered in the Grand Canyon, one of the...
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Top: Complete specimen of Chengjiangocaris kunmingensis from the early Cambrian Xiaoshiba biota of South China. Bottom: Magnification of ventral nerve cord of Chengjiangocaris kunmingensis.

520 million-year-old fossilised nervous system is most detailed example yet found

29 Feb 2016
A 520 million-year-old fossilised nervous system – so well-preserved that individually fossilised nerves are visible – is the most complete and best...
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Top: Complete specimen of Chengjiangocaris kunmingensis from the early Cambrian Xiaoshiba biota of South China. Bottom: Magnification of ventral nerve cord of Chengjiangocaris kunmingensis.

Opinion: Our 500 million-year-old nervous system fossil shines a light on animal evolution

29 Feb 2016
Javier Ortega-Hernández (Department of Zoology) discusses what the discovery of the earliest known fossilised nervous system could tell us about...
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Collinsium ciliosum, a Collins’ monster-type lobopodian from the early Cambrian Xiaoshiba biota of China

Spiky monsters: new species of ‘super-armoured’ worm discovered

29 Jun 2015
A newly-identified species of spike-covered worm with legs, which lived 500 million years ago, was one of the first animals on Earth to develop armour...
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Left: Hallucigenia sparsa from the Burgess Shale (Royal Ontario Museum 61513) The fossil is 15 mm long. Right: Colour reconstruction of Hallucigenia sparsa.

Newly-discovered ‘ring of teeth’ helps determine what common ancestor of moulting animals looked like

24 Jun 2015
A new analysis of one of the most bizarre-looking fossils ever discovered has definitively sorted its head from its tail, and turned up a previously...
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Odaraia alata, an arthropod resembling a submarine from the middle Cambrian Burgess Shale.

Clues contained in 500 million-year-old brain point to the origin of heads in early animals

07 May 2015
The discovery of a 500 million-year-old fossilised brain has helped identify a point of crucial transformation in early animals, and answered some of...
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Left: Illustration of Ottoia, a prehistoric priapulid, burrowing. Right: Ottoia worm.

Compiling a ‘dentist’s handbook’ for penis worms

06 May 2015
A new study of teeth belonging to a particularly phallic-looking creature has led to the compilation of a prehistoric ‘dentist’s handbook’ which may...
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Fossil of Haootia quadriformis

Animals first flex their muscles

27 Aug 2014
A new fossil discovery identifies the earliest evidence for animals with muscles.
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