Image: Courtesy of SCIENCE

Digging in the Lower Cambrian limestone deposits in Shropshire, England, scientists have unearthed some of the oldest examples ever found of crustaceans¿a class of animals that includes lobsters, shrimp and crabs. Making the discovery all the more valuable, the two 511-million-year-old fossils are exquisitely preserved. Even the animals' soft tissues, cast in calcium phosphate, are clearly defined.

David J. Siveter of the University of Leicester¿working with Mark Williams of the British Geological Survey and Dieter Waloszek of the University of Ulm¿was able to identify and analyze sections of exoskeleton, sternum, antenna and jaw, among other body parts (see image). The researchers describe the find in detail today in Science.

The anatomy of these crustaceans appears rather advanced, the scientists say, which suggests that the group as a whole likely originated during the Pre-Cambrian, a period of time that stretches from the earth's birth to 540 million years ago. Many scientists believe that the diversity of animals living on earth did not expand dramatically until later Cambrian times. But these fossils help build a case that animals were steadily diverging, evolutionarily speaking, well before the so-called Cambrian explosion. The scientists now hope that the Shropshire deposits will yield additional early fossils as stunningly well-preserved as this set.

2 Comments

1. 1. Cymbaline 01:11 PM 2/1/10

   Nature is always far more grand than Science is ready to acknowledge, at any point in history.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

2. 2. thekenyanpaul 03:17 AM 1/14/12

   Evolution theory is dead... I don't see it being seriously discussed by future generations. Another more coherent scientific theory for the origin, existence and diversity of life will be discovered by a yet unknown intelligent scientist. For now we have to content ourselves with hypotheses, speculation, pseudo-science narratives and plain guesswork. Today's so called 'science' is based on arguments where the best debater wins...

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this