British scientists have discovered a rare fossil of a worm that is more than 520 million years old. It has made it possible to study the evolution of spiders, crabs and centipedes. The research was published in the scientific journal magazine Nature.
The fossil creature dates back to the Cambrian period and belongs to the euarthropod group, which also includes modern arthropods and insects.
Using advanced synchrotron X-ray tomography scanning techniques, the team created 3D images of the larva’s brain, digestive glands, miniature sections of its primitive circulatory system, and even traces of the nerves that supply the larva’s limbs and eyes.
Scientists say the level of complexity of the prehistoric creature’s anatomy suggests that early arthropod ancestors were much less advanced than previously thought.
Experts said the discovery of a perfectly preserved fossilised larva, the size of a poppy seed and more than half a billion years old, was an extraordinary event.
Studying the ancient organism provides important clues about the evolutionary steps needed for simple wormlike creatures to become complex arthropods with specialized limbs, eyes and brains.
Specifically, the fossil reveals an ancestral brain region called the protocerebrum, which would later form the projection of a segmented and specialized arthropod head with various appendages such as antennae, mouthparts and eyes, the scientists added.
Previous researchers to create The earliest ancestor of spiders and scorpions.
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Source: Gazeta
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