Chuandianella ovata, an extinct shrimp-like crustacean. Credit: Xianfeng Yang, Yunnan Key Laboratory for Palaeobiology, Yunnan University
Phys.org has a story about a newly discovered fossil Lagerstatte. A paper published in Nature details the new deposit, which is located near Kunming, China. It dates to the middle Cambrian about 518 million years ago, which is same age as the Chengjiang locality. For reference, the Burgess Shale dates to about 508 million years ago. So far, researchers have discovered 118 species, including 17 never before seen species.
All life on Earth 500 million years ago lived in the oceans, but scientists know little about how these animals and algae developed. A newly discovered fossil deposit near Kunming, China, may hold the keys to understanding how these organisms laid the foundations for life on land and at sea today, according to an international team of researchers.
The fossil deposit, called the Haiyan Lagerstätte, contains an exceptionally preserved trove of early vertebrates and other rare, soft-bodied organisms, more than 50% of which are in the larval and juvenile stages of development. Dating to the Cambrian geologic period approximately 518 million years ago and providing researchers with 2,846 specimens so far, the deposit is the oldest and most diverse found to date.
"It's just amazing to see all these juveniles in the fossil record," said Julien Kimmig, collections manager at the Earth and Mineral Sciences Museum & Art Gallery, Penn State. "Juvenile fossils are something we hardly see, especially from soft-bodied invertebrates."
Xianfeng Yang, a paleobiologist at Yunnan University, China, led a team of Chinese researchers that collected the fossils at the research site. He measured and photographed the specimens and analyzed them with Kimmig. The researchers report the results of their study today (June 28) in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.
