Half a billion years ago, the first true eye emerged in Earth’s oceans. Fossils now reveal what that ancient crystal vision could actually see.

Trilobites achieved their maximum genetic diversity in the Cambrian. However, unlike this diversity measure, the morphological disparity of trilobites based on cranidial outline reached the peak in ...

A study finds that animal life's "Big Bang" ended much sooner than previously thought. The sudden appearance of numerous diverse animals more than 500 million years ago, known as the Cambrian ...

Thanks to being rapidly entombed in volcanic ash – in a “Pompeii-like” process – Cambrian-age trilobites’ anatomy is more discernable than ever, via exquisitely preserved fossils. The fossils ...

The “king” of the trilobites was snacking on whatever it could eat some 514 million years ago in the Cambrian era, even shelled creatures of its own species. By Rebecca Dzombak Cannibalism is common ...

Nobody messes with the king. Well, except for the relentless passing of time. Scientists analyzing a large collection of trilobite specimens realized that one species, Redlichia takooensis, seemed to ...

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. About 465 million years ago, a now extinct arthropod called a ...

Thanks to their easily fossilized exoskeleton, trilobites largely dominate the fossil record of early complex animal life. However, trilobite appendages and the anatomy of the underside of their body ...

The discovery of clasper limbs in a fossil suggests that some species of the ancient arthropods reproduced much like modern horseshoe crabs. By Jack Tamisiea The sturdy, calcite-infused exoskeletons ...

The great, car-sized predatory "shrimp" that was master of Earth's seas a half billion years ago may have been unable to eat anything harder than baby food. Several lines of evidence along with a new ...